India has evacuated 565 persons from Afghanistan so far including embassy personnel, other Indian nationals, Afghans, and third country nationals, but is facing multiple challenges such as frequent firing incidents at the airport, multiple checkpoints, and delays in landing permissions, a source monitoring the situation said.

Also see: Area around Kabul airport ‘incredibly crowded’: Western diploma

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) set up a Special Afghan Cell to coordinate repatriation and other requests from Afghanistan in a streamlined manner with more than 20 officials handling it, the source added. The e-visa system put in place for Afghan nationals is helping with timely evacuations.

Priority evacuation

After the insurgent group Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, India’s priority has been the evacuation of Indian nationals, safety of its diplomatic personnel, and providing assistance to Afghan nationals in distress, the source said.

Those evacuated by India so far include 175 embassy personnel, 263 other Indian nationals, 112 Afghan nationals including Hindus and Sikhs, and 15 nationals from third countries.

“India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy has been guiding India’s efforts in handling the Afghan crisis, and the government is also focussed on the international coordination of humanitarian efforts,” the source said.

The 24x7 Special Afghanistan Cell has attended 3,014 calls of people in distress, responded to 7,826 WhatsApp messages and answered 3,101 emails so far, the source added.

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