ACHIEVEMENTS OF 20 YRS LOST, SAYS AFGHAN SIKH MP
NEW DELHI : “All achievements of the last 20 years in Afghanistan have been lost. Nothing is left. It’s zero now,” said Afghan lawmaker Narender Singh Khalsa soon after his arrival along with 167 others at the Hindon airbase on Sunday as part of India’s evacuation mission from Taliban besieged Kabul.
Khalsa and senator Anarkali Honaryar as well as their families were among those flown out of Kabul in a C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the IAF.
NEW : DELHI: “All achievements of the last 20 years in Afghanistan have been lost. Nothing is left. It’s zero now,” said Afghan lawmaker Narender Singh Khalsa soon after his arrival along with 167 others at the Hindon airbase on Sunday as part of India’s evacuation mission from Taliban besieged Kabul.
Khalsa and senator Anarkali Honaryar as well as their families were among those flown out of Kabul in a C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday morning.
The Sikh lawmaker thanked the Indian government for rescuing him, his family and several other members of his community following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and most parts of Afghanistan.
“India is our second home. Even if we are Afghans and live in that country, people often call us Hindustanis,” the lawmaker told reporters at the airbase near Delhi.
Asked about the current situation in Afghanistan and how he felt about the latest developments in the country, Khalsa, with tears in his eyes, said all the gains of the past 20 years have been undone.
“I feel like crying. Everything is finished. It is a very difficult and painful decision to leave the country. We have not seen such a situation. Everything has been snatched away. It’s all over,” he said.
The Taliban took control of Kabul and almost all major cities and provinces of Afghanistan 20 years after it was ousted by a US-led military coalition following the 9/11 attacks.
Recalling the harrowing experience of the past seven days after the Taliban took control of Kabul, Khalsa said the situation is “very bad” and appealed to the Indian government to rescue the remaining stranded Hindus and Sikhs from the war-torn country.