India pulled the shutters down on its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, evacuating its nationals posted in the Kabul mission after tapping into the newly established back-channels with the Taliban.
However, several Indians continue to be stranded in Afghanistan. New Delhi does not seem to be planning another evacuation right away, awaiting instead the resumption of commercial operations at Kabul airport.
“The Government of India is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals and will institute flight arrangements once Kabul airport is open for commercial operations,’’ the external affairs ministry said in a statement on Tuesday evening, pointing out that the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport.
There is no official figure on the number of Indians stranded in Afghanistan. “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. They and / or their employers are requested to urgently share the relevant details with MEA’s Special Afghanistan Cell,’’ the statement added.
That New Delhi was pulling out ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, other diplomats and Indian staff from the Kabul embassy — the last of the five diplomatic offices India had in Afghanistan — was announced by external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in the morning after the Indian Air Force flight ferrying 150 passengers had taken off.
The C-17 Globemaster flew back to India via Iran and landed in Jamnagar, Gujarat, before arriving at the Hindon air base on the outskirts of the national capital late in the afternoon after a tense night at the Kabul airport.
Briefing journalists at Jamnagar airport, Tandon said any Indian who managed to reach the embassy in Kabul was taken into the mission and evacuated on this flight.
About the fate of others stranded, he said some of them had reached out to the mission. “They were too far away in areas that were no longer possible to access.”
The evacuation of the mission, he said, was carried out in two phases, adding that India has not abandoned the Afghan people.
With the embassy itself surrounded by the Taliban, accessing the Kabul airport was an uphill task and it is in this that the back channels with the Islamist group came in handy. The entire contingent managed to reach the airport shortly after midnight for a flight that eventually left only on Tuesday morning.
In a tweet, without going into details, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar hinted at the risks involved in moving so many Indians, including diplomats, through the Taliban-controlled Kabul. “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.”
During the night while India was awaiting the lift-off of the evacuation flight, Jaishankar had a phone conversation with US secretary of state Antony Blinken. The US currently controls the Kabul airport, and Jaishankar tweeted that he “underlined the urgency of restoring airport operations in Kabul”.
After the flight landed in Hindon, Tandon attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Afghanistan, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, amid reports of the return of Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar from Doha and the country’s first Vice-President Amrullah Saleh claiming that he is the legitimate caretaker President.
Saleh in Panjshir
An ex-spy and a trenchant critic of the Taliban, Saleh is reported to be in Panjshir Valley and in consultations with Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, to build a resistance.
Saleh said the Constitution provided for a caretaker President in the case of the absence, escape, resignation or death of the incumbent. Since he is in Afghanistan, Saleh claims he is the “legitimate caretaker president”.
