The Congress on Monday expressed shock at the Narendra Modi government’s silence on the developments in Afghanistan, wondering if something was being hidden about India’s role in the Doha agreement.

In the evening, the government issued a statement on Afghanistan.

Earlier, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said: “The stunning silence of the Narendra Modi government is deeply disturbing, highly intriguing and beyond any reasonable understanding. The unexplained silence at this extremely critical juncture gives rise to a reasonable apprehension that the Modi government is hiding something from the country. We are still in the dark over the Modi government’s role in Doha talks.”

At Doha in 2020, the then Donald Trump government had agreed with the Taliban that US troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan. The Biden administration executed that agreement.

Surjewala said: “The safety and security of our embassy and its personnel as also that of the Indian citizens are at stake. The Congress expects a mature political and diplomatic response from our government over the complete collapse of the government in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover. The Modi government’s refusal to set in motion a well thought-out plan to evacuate our citizens is a gross abdication of its duty and totally unacceptable.”

Surjewala also pointed to Taliban and Haqqani Network’s connections with Pakistan’s ISI and Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawah and asked the government to revisit our geo-political interests in this background and the impact on Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Prime Minister and external affairs minister need to come out and clearly spell out our policy for the safe return of our citizens, embassy personnel as also our future relationship. The need of the hour is that the Modi government wakes up from its slumber and protects Indian citizens in Afghanistan and tells the country how it will tackle the dangerous situation in the immediate neighbourhood,” he said.

Asked about the external affairs ministry’s statement that Indians in Afghanistan will plan their return on their own, Surjewala said: “What can be more shameful than this? We have heard that the government said they don’t take responsibility of Indians living there. Whose responsibility is this? Other countries are evacuating their citizens and the embassy staff. We are witnessing dreadful scenes at Kabul airport. We ask the government to wake up and take care of Indians.”