India continues Afghan evacuation mission; brings back 146 from Doha

Passengers, including 107 Indian nationals, react while boarding IAF’s special repatriation flight for Delhi from Kabul on August 22. Pic/PTI

India on Monday evacuated over 70 people, including its citizens and a group of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, from Kabul to Dushanbe in Tajikistan in an IAF aircraft while another batch of near-equal strength is planned to be taken out of the Afghan capital to the Tajik city at the earliest, people familiar with the developments said.

Separately, India brought back 146 of its nationals to Delhi in four different commercial flights from the Qatari capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Kabul by NATO and American aircraft. With Monday's evacuation, the number of people brought back to Delhi has gone up to around 730 since August 16 when the first group was airlifted from Kabul, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital city.

The people cited above said the evacuees, who were taken to Dushanbe, are likely to be brought back to Delhi from the Tajikistan capital in a civilian aircraft on Tuesday. India has stepped up efforts to evacuate its citizens as well as its Afghan partners from Kabul in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital and other parts of the country after the Taliban swept to power last week.

Thousands of Afghans have been crowding around the Kabul airport for nearly a week, in a desperate attempt to flee the country fearing the Taliban's brutality. The people cited said most of the 146 Indians brought back from Doha were employees of western companies and organisations operating in Afghanistan.

It was the second batch of Indians that was brought home from Doha. A total of 135 Indians were flown to Delhi from Doha in a special flight on Sunday. Of the second batch of Indians who returned home from Doha, 104 people came back on a Vistara flight, 30 by a Qatar Airways flight and 11 of them returned by an Indigo flight. One person returned by an Air India flight, they said. India on Sunday evacuated 392 people including two Afghan lawmakers in three flights from Kabul.

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