E-Paper
Evacuation ops, helping Afghans priority: Centre at all-party meet
External affairs minister S Jaishankar and foreign secretary Harsh Shringla briefed parliamentary leaders of 31 parties on the latest developments in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul was captured by the Taliban on August 15 following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
India’s priorities in Afghanistan are evacuating all its nationals and helping Afghans in distress, even as New Delhi waits to see whether the Taliban forms a new set-up on its own or shares power with others, the government told leaders of political parties on Thursday.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar and foreign secretary Harsh Shringla briefed parliamentary leaders of 31 parties on the latest developments in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul was captured by the Taliban on August 15 following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
The situation in Afghanistan is fluid and India is keeping a close watch on developments as it continues consultations with important stakeholders and regional countries. The Indian side is also continuing its engagement with the Afghan people and closely monitoring political and security developments, the MPs were told.
Jaishankar told the lawmakers that India’s immediate priorities in the current circumstances included evacuating all Indian nationals and providing assistance to Afghan nationals in distress, according to people familiar with the briefing.
In a detailed presentation for the MPs, the foreign secretary said the Indian side is watching whether the new set-up in Kabul will be solely a government of the Taliban or there will be power-sharing with other Afghan leaders, the people said on condition of anonymity.
Union minister and leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, and parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi were present during the briefing held at the Parliament annexe. The briefing was attended by 37 leaders from 31 parties, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Union minister Anand Sharma, TR Baalu of the DMK, and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
Jaishankar said in a string of tweets: “Our immediate concern and task is evacuation and long term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people.” He said evacuation operations were conducted in “extremely difficult conditions especially at the airport”.
The foreign minister noted in his tweets that there is “longstanding national sentiment on Afghanistan”, as well as “national concern now at developments”. India’s strong friendship with the Afghan people is reflected in more than 500 development projects, and this friendship “will continue to guide us”, he said. He added “India’s footprint and activities” in Afghanistan will be shaped by “ongoing changes”.
The people cited above said the MPs were informed that India, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for August, convened a special session on Afghanistan on August 16 and also made a statement at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The broad message conveyed by most Security Council members was that the world community should use all tools to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan and guarantee that basic human rights are respected.
India also currently chairs the UN 1988 sanctions committee, which oversees the designation and delisting of Taliban leaders. The sanctions committee is expected to play a key role in the issue of extending a travel exemption for sanctioned top Taliban leaders such as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in September.
Shringla informed the MPs about pre-emptive measures taken by India since last year, when the Taliban launched a campaign of attacks and violence following the signing of a peace deal with the US in February 2020. He noted the security situation was closely tracked as there was a history of attacks on Indian diplomatic premises in Afghanistan, including attacks on the embassy in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The pre-emptive measures included withdrawing India-based personnel from the consulates in Herat and Jalalabad in April 2020, scaling down personnel at the embassy in Kabul and closing the old chancery building in June this year, and evacuating personnel from the consulate in Kandahar during July 10-11, and from the consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif during August 10-11 in special military flights.
The Indian embassy issued a series of security advisories for Indian nationals on June 29, July 24, and August 10 and 12. The final advisories asked Indians to leave immediately and warned them about the discontinuation of commercial flights.
The external affairs ministry also set up a 24x7 special cell on Afghanistan and launched an e-visa system for Afghan nationals in distress.
The government has so far evacuated a total of 565 people, including 175 embassy personnel, 263 other Indian nationals, 112 Afghan nationals, including Hindus and Sikhs, and 15 nationals of third countries. The government also facilitated the evacuation of Indians by other agencies.
Among the challenges faced during the evacuation were frequent incidents of firing near Kabul airport and inside the city, multiple checkpoints set up by different groups, logistics and other issues at the airport, uncertainty in obtaining landing permissions for aircraft, and obtaining overflight clearances from regional countries since Indian military aircraft can’t use Pakistani airspace.
A multi-agency team of Indian personnel deployed at Kabul airport has coordinated with NATO and US for landing permissions and access to the airport for evacuees. India also hired a local security agency to escort evacuees to the airport.
The external affairs ministry’s special cell on Afghanistan, set up on August 16 to coordinate repatriation and other requests, attended 3,014 calls, responded to nearly 8,000 messages on WhatsApp and answered more than 3,101 emails.
