A special repatriation flight by the Indian Air Force - carrying 168 passengers, including 107 Indians - landed this morning at the Hindon air base near Delhi from Kabul. There were two Afghan senators and 24 Afghan sikhs among the evacuees.
They will be moved to the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara next. Many of the evacuees are from a Gurdwara in Kabul, where they have been staying for days.
"I feel like crying...Everything that was built in the last 20 years is now finished. It's zero now," a visibly emotional Afghanistan's senator Narender Singh Khalsa told news agency ANI upon landing in Delhi.
Also, three other flights - Air India, IndiGo and Vistara - carrying Indians evacuated from Kabul landed in Delhi from Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe and Qatar's Doha this morning.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi posted pictures of the evacuation efforts on Twitter.
In a string of tweets earlier, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, posted details of the evacuation efforts. He also posted a short video clip where the evacuees can be seen chanting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".
Sources said on Saturday morning the government is trying to bring as many Indians as possible into the airport at Kabul to keep them safe while it works out the evacuation logistics.
India has evacuated all embassy staff but an estimated 1,000 citizens remain in several Afghan cities and ascertaining their location and condition is proving to be a challenge, the Home Ministry has said.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan Sunday, after President Ashraf Ghani fled and the group walked into Kabul with no opposition. This was after a staggeringly fast rout of major cities, after two decades of war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Here are the LIVE Updates on Afghanistan-Taliban crisis:
Afghanistan News: Afghan Senator Breaks Down After Reaching India On Air Force PlaneTwo Afghan senators were among the 24 Sikhs who landed in India this morning, repatriated from the war-torn nation that's now under the control of Taliban.
We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine - OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus
- Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 22, 2021
Congratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public health
Take a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport pic.twitter.com/jPVF1lVmRu
#WATCH | 168 passengers, including 107 Indian nationals, arrive at Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad from Kabul, onboard Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft
- ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021
Passengers are yet to come out of the airport as they will first undergo the #COVID19 RT-PCR test.#Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/x7At7oB8YK
The United States and Germany told their citizens in Afghanistan on Saturday to avoid travelling to Kabul airport, citing security risks as thousands of desperate people gathered trying to flee almost a week after Taliban Islamists took control. The Taliban's co-founder, Mullah Baradar, arrived in the Afghan capital for talks with other leaders. The group is trying to hammer out a new government after its forces swept across the country as U.S.-led forces pulled out after two decades, with the Western-backed government and military collapsing.
Evacuation continues!
- Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) August 22, 2021
IAF special repatriation flight with 168 passengers onboard, including 107 Indian nationals, is on its way to Delhi from Kabul. pic.twitter.com/ysACxClVdX
Bringing Indians home from Afghanistan!
- Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) August 21, 2021
AI 1956 carrying 87 Indians departs from Tajikistan for New Delhi. Two Nepalese nationals also evacuated.
Assisted and supported by our Embassy @IndEmbDushanbe.
More evacuation flights to follow. pic.twitter.com/YMCuJQ7595
