STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Asserting that the government is committed to “full evacuation” of Indians from Afghanistan, where the situation is “critical”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said India’s “immediate concern and task is evacuation and long term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people”.
Briefing an all-party meeting on the situation in Afghanistan, Jaishankar said the government has adopted a “wait and watch” approach in dealing with the Taliban, depending on the evolving situation, and later told reporters in an answer to a similar question that let the situation settle down there.
2 suicide attacks outside Kabul airport; 13 dead
Kabul: Twin suicide bombings struck Thursday outside Kabul’s airport, where large crowds of people trying to flee Afghanistan have massed, killing at least 13 people, Russian officials said.
Western nations had warned earlier in the day of a possible attack at the airport in the waning days of a massive airlift. Suspicion for any attack targeting the crowds would likely fall on the Islamic State group and not the Taliban, who have been deployed at the airport’s gates trying to control the mass of people.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry gave the first official casualty count, saying 13 people had died and 15 were wounded.
U.S. officials said that American personnel were wounded in the blast, without elaborating. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also confirmed the blasts, saying one near an airport entrance was a complex attack and another was a short distance away by a hotel.
One explosion went off in a crowd of people waiting to enter the airport, according to Adam Khan, an Afghan waiting nearby. He said several people appeared to have been killed or wounded, including some who lost body parts.
Several countries urged people to avoid the airport earlier in the day, with one saying there was a threat of a suicide bombing. But just days or even hours for some nations before the evacuation effort ends, few appeared to heed the call.
“Let the situation settle…You will have to keep patience on the question of our future policy,” he said when asked about the government’s approach towards the Taliban.
Besides Jaishankar, Union minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were also present during the nearly three and a half hour briefing on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
Senior officials of the external affairs ministry, including Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla also participated in the meeting.
As per the evacuation data shared among the participants at the meet, the government has evacuated –175 Embassy Personnel, 263 other Indian Nationals, 112 Afghan Nationals including Hindus and Sikhs, 15 third country nationals and the total figure stood at 565.
The document further said the government also facilitated the evacuation of Indians by other agencies.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK’s T R Baalu, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel were among those who attended the meet.
“We have a strong national position on Afghanistan. The friendship with the Afghan people is something which matters to all of us. So we (all parties) approached this situation very much in a spirit of national unity,” he told reporters.
Under Operation ‘Devi Shakti’, the government has undertaken six flights and brought back most of the Indians but not all of them, he said, noting that a few Indians are still there.
“Some of them could not make the flight yesterday. But definitely we will try and bring everybody. We have also brought out some Afghan citizens who wanted to come to India at this point of time. We have tried to address many of the other issues by instituting an E-visa policy. So the overall sense was that the government is very very strongly committed to ensuring the full evacuation as soon as possible,” he said.
With the situation in Afghanistan fluid, he said there will be a lot of activity on this front but at the moment India’s “focus is on evacuation and the government is doing everything to ensure that we bring back our people”.
On the all-party meet, he tweeted “briefed the floor leaders of all political parties today on Afghanistan and 37 leaders from 31 parties attended. Thank them all.”
He said India’s strong friendship with the people of Afghanistan is reflected in the more than 500 projects it has there and that the friendship will continue to guide New Delhi.