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Entering airport looked nearly impossible: Kabul evacuees
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindan airbase near Delhi in the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 Globemaster aircraft.
The Taliban segregated an Indian group headed to the Kabul airport for evacuation from the war-torn country, with a journey only a few kilometres-long to the facility appearing impossible because of blocked roads and the presence of militia, people who landed in India after precarious journey out of Afghanistan said on Sunday.
India on Sunday brought back 540 people, including 475 of its nationals and two Afghan lawmakers, on four flights from different destinations as part of the mission to evacuate its nationals and Afghan partners from Kabul amid the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan because of a Taliban takeover.
“When the situation changed there (in Afghanistan), we decided to go back home. There was no issue of food there. They (Taliban) took the photocopy of our passports and asked us our names besides they checked our passports and asked where we worked. Later, they left,” a passenger told reporters at the Ghaziabad’s Hindan airbase, where the evacuation flights landed on Sunday morning.
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindan airbase near Delhi in the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 Globemaster aircraft. Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF 130J transport aircraft, officials said. Another 281 Indians, most of them employees of firms from Western countries that were active in Afghanistan, were flown back from Doha to Delhi on two special flights. These Indians had been flown out to Qatar on US and NATO flights over the past few days.
Another passenger, Kolkata-based Dominic S Biswas, who was working in Afghanistan as an auditor of food quality for the past 10 months, shared his harrowing few days in the capital city. “I was in Kabul main city. There was a huge crowd at the Kabul airport, and I was stuck up for four days. I was outside the airport and could not move in. There was scheduling and rescheduling...‘Taliban se dar laga, bahut laga (We were very scared of the Taliban)’.”
The group also included Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families.
“India is our second home. We have been living there for generations. We pray to God that Afghanistan is rebuilt, and we can go back there to tend to our gurdwaras and temples and serve the people,” Khalsa was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. “I feel like crying...Everything that was built in the last 20 years is now finished. It’s zero now,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Honaryar, a member of the Upper House of Afghan Parliament, told news agency PTI in a video message: “I thank the government of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force for lifting us from Kabul and saving my life.”
Their emotions were shared by many, who hailed the efforts of the Indian government in ensuring their safe arrival.
“Situation was deteriorating in Afghanistan, so I came here with my daughter & two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers and sisters came to our rescue. They (Taliban) burnt down my house. I thank India for helping us,” news agency ANI quoted an Afghan national as saying.
Dehradun-based Praveen (44), who was among 87 Indians brought back in a special Air India flight from Tajikistan, said “breathing the air of our motherland is just bliss”.
A resident of Premnagar area of Dehradun, Praveen was among 40 ex-servicemen from Uttarakhand who worked at the Denmark embassy in Kabul as security assistants.
“When we finally touched down New Delhi airport on Sunday at 5.45 am from Tajikistan, it was like we got a second life as the situation in Afghanistan was very serious,” he added.
Dilbahadur, also an ex-serviceman, said the journey back home seemed impossible at a point. He went to Afghanistan for the first time just a month ago and said their contingent had to wait for about six hours to enter the airport and were asked by the Taliban to stand separately from the locals.
“Outside the airport, the Taliban men told us to stand in a separate place when we told them that we are Indians. They assured us that they won’t harm us and will let us go to the airport. I was not scared but seeing the Taliban... we were a little worried as it was difficult to believe their assurance. If they wanted, they could have shot us as it was normal for them,” he said.
“Though we lived only about 2km away from the Kabul airport, it was almost impossible to reach there as all the roads were blocked by either Taliban or the locals. The Indian embassy officials then coordinated with the US Army which came to take us to the airport ensuring our safety,” he added.
Explaining the situation near the airport, Dilbahadur said, though the Taliban were not targeting the Indians, they were beating the local residents to stop them from entering the airport. “We felt sorry for the poor locals who were being beaten by the Taliban to scatter them away from the airport. There were small children being carried by their parents trying to enter the airport by jumping over the fence. It was a very heart-wrenching scene.”
