As many as 78 people, including 25 Indian nationals, are brought to New Delhi from Tajikistan’s Dushanbe in a special Air India flight . They were flown out of Taliban-controlled Kabul to Dushanbe in an aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) a day before. “Helping in the safe return from Afghanistan. AI 1956 enroute to Delhi from Dushanbe carrying 78 passengers, including 25 Indian nationals. Evacuees were flown in from Kabul on an @IAF_MCC aircraft,” Arindam Bagchi, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson, tweeted.
India is expected to evacuate more people, including its own nationals and dozens of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, from Kabul. On Monday, Indian authorities evacuated 75 Sikhs amid the deteriorating situation in war-torn Afghanistan.
Three copies of the Guru Granth Sahib and 75 people, including 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, will also be evacuated from Afghanistan on an IAF plane. “Three Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are being escorted to the IAF aircraft at Kabul Airport. Forty-six Afghan Hindus and Sikhs along with stranded Indian nationals are blessed to return on the same flight,” Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.
Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the Indian World Forum, said nearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan. “These people have taken shelter at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul, which is close to the airport.
India evacuated nearly 540 people, including 475 of its nationals, on several flights from Kabul, Dushanbe and Doha on Sunday.
The Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15. Within two days of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, India evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in the Afghan capital.
The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy on August 16.
The second aircraft evacuated around 150 people including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and some stranded Indians from Kabul on August 17.India carried out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.