‘Urgently share details’: MEA asks Indians still stranded in Afghanistan

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar took to Twitter on Tuesday to state that the repatriation of the Indian embassy and its staff from Afghanistan was a “difficult and complicated exercise.”

Using the Air Force’s (IAF) C-17 transport aircraft, India on Monday and Tuesday withdrew its diplomatic staff from Afghanistan, including the Indian ambassador to the war-torn nation Rudrendra Tandon. However, several Indian nationals continue to be stranded in the country that witnessed the re-emergence of the Islamist extremist group Taliban on Sunday and the total collapse of the President Ashraf Ghani-led government.

Union external affairs minister on Tuesday took to Twitter to thank "all those whose cooperation and facilitation" made repatriation of Indian embassy and its staff from Afghanistan possible.

Addressing this matter, the ministry of external affairs on Tuesday requested the stranded Indians in Afghanistan and/or their ‘employers…to urgently share the relevant details with [the ministry’s] Special Afghanistan Cell.”

“We understand that a number of Indians are stranded in that country, some of whom are employed by third country organisations. Our immediate priority is to obtain accurate information about all Indian nationals currently in Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi took to Twitter on Monday to announce that India has created a special Afghanistan cell to look into the issues pertaining to the repatriation of Indian nationals and other matters in Afghanistan. This development came after it was reported that several Sikh and Hindu Indian citizens have taken refuge at a gurdwara in Kabul, even as the panic-stricken Afghans resorted to every possible method to escape their home country.

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, described the evacuation of the Indian embassy from Afghanistan to be a “difficult and complicated exercise.”

"Movement of the Indian Ambassador and the embassy staff from Kabul to India was a difficult and complicated exercise. Thank all those whose cooperation and facilitation made it possible,” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Notably, nearly 200 Indian officials and security personnel were flown out of Kabul in two batches – with the flights being operated in secrecy. One group of the diplomats faced problems reaching the airport from the embassy – located 10km from the former, as the Taliban had set up checkpoints on the way.

Congress leader and Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday urged the MEA and Jaishankar to immediately make arrangements to repatriate Indians stranded in the country, including around 200 Sikhs. Following his appeal, Union cabinet minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the MEA and all other concerned government departments would make all arrangements to bring back Indians from Afghanistan.

The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday facing minimal or no resistance from the US-backed Afghan troops. With paranoia and memories from their over half-a-decade long reign 20 years ago still afresh in the minds of Afghans, especially women and girls, they have been gathering at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in order to get to flights to flee the group’s reincarnation.

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However, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday said that the group are “committed to providing women their rights based on Islam.”

“Women can work in the health sector and other sectors where they are needed. There will be no discrimination against women,” he was quoted as saying by Tolo News.

Mujahid further said that the security of all embassies, missions, aid agencies, and international organisations in Kabul is of “crucial importance” to them. “We would like to assure all foreign countries that our forces are there to ensure the security of all,” he said.

(With inputs from ANI)