Hyderabad: Around 330 Indian nationals are being brought back home from Afghanistan as part of India's evacuation mission amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country.
An Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft took off from Kabul earlier Sunday morning with 168 people onboard and it will land at Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad later today. "Evacuation continues. IAF special repatriation flight with 168 passengers onboard, including 107 Indian nationals, is on its way to Delhi from Kabul," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.
In another development, 87 Indians who were on Saturday taken to Tajikistan capital Dushanbe from Kabul on board a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force are being brought back to Delhi in a special Air India flight. "Bringing Indians home from Afghanistan! AI 1956 carrying 87 Indians departs from Tajikistan for New Delhi. Two Nepalese nationals also evacuated. Assisted and supported by our Embassy @IndEmbDushanbe. More evacuation flights to follow," Arindam Bagchi tweeted at around 1:20 am on Sunday.
The Indian embassy in Qatar said 135 Indians, who were evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days, are being sent to India. "1st batch of 135 Indians who were evacuated 4m Kabul to Doha over past days being repatriated tonight to India," the embassy said in a tweet. "Embassy officials provided consular and logistics assistance to ensure the safe return of the Indians. We thank Qatar authorities n all concerned for making this possible," it added.
The government has been putting in coordinated efforts to bring back citizens safely after the Taliban took over the capital city Kabul last Sunday. Around 200 people including the Indian envoy and embassy staffers in Kabul were earlier evacuated in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF.
