70, including Indians, Afghanistan Sikhs & Hindus, flown to Dushanbe

Afghan refugees protest outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi. Mukesh Aggarwal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Even as India evacuated 146 of its nationals in four different flights from Qatar’s capital Doha on Monday, the Union Government called an all-party meeting on Thursday on the developments in Afghanistan.

Edit: Prioritise evacuation

Afghan soldier dies in airport firefight

• An Afghan soldier was killed in a firefight outside Kabul airport on Monday as Taliban moved to quell resistance.

Music killed in Af: Student’s message

• “Music killed in Afghanistan!” This message was sent by an Af student to a noted sitar player in India. INSIDE

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would brief the floor leaders of political parties on the present situation in Afghanistan in the in-person meeting. The government’s briefing is expected to focus on its evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the situation in the war-torn country. Those evacuated today were earlier airlifted from Afghanistan by NATO and US aircraft. This was the second batch of Indians to be brought back from Doha after their evacuation from Kabul. At least 104 people were brought back in a Vistara flight, 30 by a Qatar Airways flight and 11 by an Indigo flight. One person returned by an Air India flight, sources said.

Chaos continued to prevail at Kabul airport in the backdrop of increasing Taliban hostility. A firefight just outside the airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early this morning, German officials said.

Over 37,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul in the last eight days, but that still leaves behind several fearful minorities, including over 250 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who have taken shelter at Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul. Their leaders, including two lawmakers, have reached India along with their relatives.

Ahead of a G-7 virtual meeting on Tuesday, the Taliban warned against extending the complete pullout of foreign forces by August 31, which is being pushed by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Faced with a financial crunch and a falling currency, the Taliban appointed an acting director general of the country’s central bank — Da Afghanistan Bank — after the IMF disbursed $650 billion in Covid aid to all countries on Monday, barring the war-torn nation.

Though several Taliban leaders were in Kabul and held dialogues with members of the former ruling regime, there was no indication about the government formation.