Amid the raging crisis in the wake of the Taliban ruling the roost in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to discuss the “fast changing” and “grim” situation in the war-torn nation. The CCS also assessed the developments and their potential impact on India’s security.
India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, who returned to India on Tuesday, gave PM Modi a detailed account of what is going on in Afghanistan. He is learnt to have told the CCS that the situation continues to be grim and fast changing in Afghanistan.
PM Modi has also been in constant touch with the officials over the situation concerning the evacuation of Indians from Afghanistan and was taking stock of the situation till late at night on Monday, sources said. After a tense day when diplomats were turned back from travelling by Taliban guards, 140 Indians, including about 120 Indian embassy staff and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel, 16 civilians and four media persons flew back to Delhi on board a special military flight on Tuesday. The flight, a C-17 Globemaster, was one of the two aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force for bringing home all Indian personnel from the embassy.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that ahead of the CCS meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic briefing from External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar who is on a four-day visit to the US. According to sources, Jaishankar and US Secretary State of Antony Blinken had a detailed discussion on the Afghan crisis, following which the Biden administration played a crucial role in facilitating India’s evacuation plan on Tuesday morning.
“Smooth passage for Indian diplomats and staff and our nationals to the Airport in Kabul could be ensured as a result of conversation between Jaishankar and Blinken” says a source familiar with the development for long. On the ground, Tandon also coordinated with the new militia and other diplomatic missions to ensure the safe passage of the convoy out of Kabul, and then to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, currently under the control of U.S.-led NATO troops.
Earlier, diplomats and other personnel were turned back from driving to the airport by Taliban guards in Kabul, who stopped their convoy, confiscated some equipment and forced them back to the embassy.
The CCS took a detailed view of the whole exercise leading to the successful evacuation of a big group of Indian nationals from Kabul.
According to sources, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla also shared whatever inputs he got from Jaishankar from the US. The CCS took stock of the present situation and is said to have expressed satisfaction over MEA’s evacuation exercise so far. Meanwhile in New York, Jaishankar and Blinken also together made an assessment of how China and Pakistan are reacting to the prevailing situation in Pakistan. ‘India is closely analysing China’s statement in which the Communist rulers have said that they are ready to work with the Taliban regime in Kabul,’ sources said. “Jaishankar and Blinken have also taken stock of Beijing’s remarks,” sources added. People familiar with the development told TDG that the Biden administration is displeased with Pakistan PM Imran Khan saying that the US messed it up in Afghanistan. This also figured during the conversation between Jaishankar and Blinken.
CCS members Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, attended the meeting along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary to the PM P.K. Mishra, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon. Rudendra Tandon returned to Delhi after India ordered the evacuation of its embassy in Kabul.
The CCS meeting also comes on a day when India opened a special class of emergency visas to allow entry to non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan apart from “friends of India”. The CCS is also learnt to have taken stock of the Indian assets in Afghanistan besides fine-tuning the plans to evacuate every single Indian safely out of the crisis-hit nation.
However, the government maintained that it has not “abandoned” Afghans, and launched a new e-visa category especially for Afghan nationals wishing to come to India.
“We were a very large mission of 192 personnel, who were evacuated from Afghanistan within a period of three days in a very orderly fashion in two phases,” said Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, during a refuelling stopover in Jamnagar on Tuesday, where he thanked the Air Force for the evacuation effort. After spending the night at the airport, all Indians boarded around 6 a.m.
According to flight tracker data, both the flights took a long and circuitous route, avoiding Pakistani airspace and minimising travel through the Afghan airspace, to fly over Iran, and returned to India over the Arabian Sea, and back over Gujarat. Later, the IAF aircraft with stranded Indians from Kabul landed at Hindon airbase.
“In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson tweeted, announcing the evacuation, but did not clarify whether India’s diplomatic presence in Afghanistan has ended.
Government officials also clarified that they would open visa applications of Afghans of all religions, including Hindus and Sikhs, that they had earlier issued statements about.
On Tuesday, the MEA set up a “MEA’s 24×7 Special Afghanistan Cell” for all those needing evacuation once commercial operations begin on Tuesday. In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs introduced a new category of electronic visa called “e-Emergency X-Misc Visa” to fast-track the visa applications of all Afghans wishing to travel to India, which will be a six-month visa that will be granted online.
“Understand the anxiety of those seeking to return to India. Airport operations are the main challenge. Discussions with partners in this regard,” Jaishankar, who is in New York at present, tweeted.
“It’s not that we have abandoned the people of Afghanistan. Their welfare and our relationship with them are very much in our mind. We will, going forward, try and continue our interaction with them. I can’t exactly say in what form or manner, as the situation is changing so much,” Tandon said when asked about the future of India’s diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
Earlier on Tuesday, the MEA said that the immediate priority for the government is to obtain accurate information about all Indian nationals currently staying in Afghanistan.