Afghanistan crisis: Around 400 Indians return home from Kabul

Since the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, so far 590 Indians have been brought back from the capital city.

India on Sunday evacuated 392 people from Kabul amid the sudden takeover of the war-torn country by the Taliban. Indians and Afghan partners were brought back in three separate flights in a mission to evacuate the maximum number of citizens as soon as possible from Afghanistan.

168 people were evacuated from Kabul on Sunday. They were flown in the Indian Air Force's C-17 military transport aircraft from the capital city to Hindon airbase near Delhi. It included 107 Indians, 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and two Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families. Many of the evacuees had taken refuge in a gurdwara in Kabul and had been staying there for days. Reportedly, all of them will now be shifted to the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.

Earlier up to 135 Indians who had been evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the past few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were also flown from the Qatari capital to Delhi in a special flight. The officials said that another group of 87 Indians and two Nepal nationals were also brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, Tajikistan. They were flown a day before from Kabul to Tajikistan in an IAF 130J transport aircraft.

Since the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, so far 590 Indians have been brought back from the capital city. American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, which control the Hamid Karzai International Airport, have allowed India to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan.