JOIN USWill take all steps for safety of Indians and India's interests: MEA on Afghanistan
India has vowed to ensure the safety and security of its nationals and interests in Afghanistan, where the Taliban appears to be set to return to power after President Ashraf Ghani’s government collapsed on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government particularly promised to help Afghan Hindus and Sikhs, who might like to travel to India in view of the return of the radical Sunni Muslim militant organization’s return to power in Afghanistan. India also promised to stand by its friends in Afghanistan.
New Delhi’s pledge to protect its interests in Afghanistan is significant, given the speculation that the Pakistan Army and its spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) would try to take advantage of the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in order to gain a strategic edge against India.
Though New Delhi could facilitate the return of some Indian citizens from Afghanistan before and after the Taliban militants took over the capital of the conflict-ravaged country, it had to pause the repatriation when the operations of the commercial airlines from the overcrowded Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul was suspended due to chaos.
New Delhi has not yet evacuated all its diplomats from Kabul. Neither it has so far decided on the fate of its embassy in the capital of Afghanistan.
India did not immediately react after the capital of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban on Sunday. It, however, issued a statement on Monday, albeit without directly referring to the imminent takeover by the militants after President Ashraf Ghani’s departure from the country. “The security situation in Kabul has deteriorated significantly in the last few days. It is changing rapidly even as we speak,” Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said in New Delhi.
He said that the Government of India had been closely monitoring all developments in Afghanistan. The Embassy of India in Kabul had been issuing periodic advisories for the safety and security of Indian citizens across Afghanistan, including calling for their immediate return to India. It had also circulated emergency contact numbers and had also been extending assistance to community members, said the MEA spokesperson. “We are aware that there are still some Indian nationals in Afghanistan who wish to return and we are in touch with them.”
“We are in constant touch with the representatives of Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities. We will facilitate repatriation to India of those who wish to leave Afghanistan.”
New Delhi noted that a number of Afghans had been India’s partners in the “promotion of mutual developmental, educational and people to people endeavours”. “We will stand by them,” said Bagchi, adding, “Commercial operations from Kabul airport have been suspended today. This has forced a pause in our repatriation efforts. We are awaiting the resumption of flights to restart the process.”
India over the past few years contributed over $ 3 billion to support the reconstruction of infrastructure in Afghanistan.
He also said that the situation in Afghanistan was being monitored on a constant basis at the high levels of the Government of India, which would take all steps to ensure the safety and security of India’s citizens and its interests in Afghanistan.