Tag: Afghanistan Crisis

  • Couldn’t even collect fistful of soil to remind me of home: Afghan’s first non-Muslim woman MP

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Afghanistan’s first non-Muslim woman MP Anarkali Kaur Honaryar never thought she would have to leave her country.

    But as the Taliban swept into Kabul, she had to take flight not getting a chance to even collect a handful of the soil as a memory of her motherland.

    Honaryar, 36, a dentist, championed the cause of women in the highly patriarchal society of Afghanistan and led campaigns for the rights of the vulnerable communities.

    She dreamt of a life in a progressive and democratic Afghanistan.

    “My dream is now shattered.”

    ALSO READ | All Afghan nationals must travel to India only on e-Visa, says MHA in new circular

    Honaryar still hopes that Afghanistan gets a government that protects the gains made in the last 20 years.

    “Maybe it’s little, but we still have time.”

    Hostilities in Afghanistan had earlier forced the Sikh MP’s relatives to move to India, Europe and Canada.

    Honaryar and her family reached India in an Indian Air Force’s C-17 transport aircraft on Sunday morning amid a deteriorating situation in her country after the return of the Taliban.

    She overcame with emotions at the airport thinking whether she will be able to return home, ever.

    “I didn’t even get the time to take a fistful of my country’s soil…..a souvenir from my country. I could just touch the ground at the airport before boarding the flight,” Honaryar said as she broke into tears.

    ALSO READ | Taliban said no harm will be done to gurdwaras, but who will take care of them: Afghan Sikh MP

    Staying at a hotel in Delhi, her ailing mother wants to go back to Kabul.

    “I don’t know what to tell her,” Honaryar says.

    In May 2009, Honaryar was chosen by Radio Free Europe’s Afghan chapter as their “Person of the Year”.

    The recognition made her a household name in Kabul.

    A doctor by profession, the lawmaker recalls her days when she worked for the Afghan human rights commission and traversed the seemingly inaccessible mountains regions of the country.

    “Muslim women trusted me despite not being from the same religion,” she says.

    Asked about her friends and co-workers who are still stuck in the conflict-torn nation, she says “We tried really hard to avoid a situation where we have to leave our country.”

    “My colleagues and my friends have been calling me, sending me messages. But how do I respond? Every call, every message breaks my heart, makes me cry. They think I am safe and at ease in Delhi, but how do I tell them that I miss them a lot.”Honaryar says the memories that she wants to keep are of the love she received in Afghanistan.

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    “In Afghanistan, people would swarm around me and click selfies when I would come out from meetings. They loved me because I was their voice in the National Assembly. I fought for everyone. The issues I raised, all my speeches, are part of the records of the Assembly,” she said.

    Among her recorded speeches is a vow that Honaryar took — not to work for a Taliban government ever.

    “I said a lot of things against the Taliban. My ideas and principles are completely opposite. I’m alive and hopeful. I will continue to work for Afghanistan from Delhi,” she says.

    Honaryar feels that the future is unpredictable for the people of Afghanistan.

    “The people are so depressed that they are desperately clinging onto planes….as if those are buses that would take them to safety,” she said gazing into a void.

    The one question that troubles her the most is the future of women under Taliban rule.

    “The Taliban said no one will be harmed. But peace does not mean non-violence. Peace means that they accept women as equals and recognize their rights,” she said.

  • All Afghan nationals must travel to India only on e-Visa, says MHA in new circular

    By ANI

    NBEW DELHI: Owing to the prevailing security situation in Afghanistan and streamlining of the visa process by introduction of the e-Emergency X-Misc visa, it has been decided that all Afghan nationals henceforth must travel to India only on e-Visa.

    Keeping in view some reports that certain passports of Afghan nationals have been misplaced, previously issued visas to all Afghan nationals, who are presently not in India, stand invalidated with immediate effect, informed an official release by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

    Afghan nationals wishing to travel to India may apply for an e-Visa at the official website.

    India, on August 17, had also announced that it would issue an emergency e-visa to Afghan nationals who want to come to the country in view of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there.

    All Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ online and the applications will be processed in New Delhi.

    The announcement came two days after the Taliban captured power in Afghanistan.

    “The MHA reviews visa provisions in view of the current situation in Afghanistan. A new category of electronic visa called ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ introduced to fast-track visa applications for entry into India,” a Home Ministry spokesperson then said in a statement.

    Officials said since Indian missions in Afghanistan are shut, the visa can be applied online and applications will be examined and processed in New Delhi.

    The visa will initially be valid for six months, they said.

    Security issues will be looked into while processing the applications and granting the visa to Afghan nationals, the officials then said.

    All Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the travel document.

    Thousands of Afghans rushed into Kabul’s main airport on August 16, some so desperate to escape the Taliban that they held onto a military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths.

    The crowds came while the Taliban enforced their rule over the capital of five million people after a lightning advance across the country that took just over a week to dethrone the country’s Western-backed government.

  • Afghanistan’s territory shouldn’t be used by terror groups such as LeT, JeM: India at UNHRC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday said the current situation in Afghanistan is of “great concern” to it, hoping that it does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and the country is not used by terrorist groups such as LeT and JeM.

    In his address at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Afghanistan, Indian ambassador Indra Mani Pandey said a “grave” humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the country and everyone is concerned about the increasing violations of fundamental rights of the Afghan people.

    He said India hopes that the situation stabilises soon, and the parties concerned address the humanitarian and security issues.

    ALSO READ | We’ll never even think of going back to Afghanistan now: Women refugees in India

    “We also hope that there is an inclusive and broad-based dispensation which represents all sections of Afghan society. Voices of Afghan women, aspirations of Afghan children and the rights of minorities must be respected,” he said.

    A broad-based representation would help the arrangement gain more acceptability and legitimacy, he added.

    Pandey, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, said stability in Afghanistan is linked to the peace and security of the region.

    “We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and its territory is not used by terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to threaten any other country,” he said.

    The ambassador said as a neighbour of Afghanistan, the situation prevailing in the country is of “great concern” to India.

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    “We are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving security situation in Afghanistan and we continue to call upon parties concerned to maintain law and order, ensure the safety and security of all Afghan nationals, UN personnel and diplomatic staff members, and observe human rights and international humanitarian law in all circumstances in Afghanistan,” he added.

    The UN Human Rights Council is holding the special session to discuss the human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan after Kabul fell to the Taliban.

  • Taliban had killed our kin; we have no hope from them: Afghan refugees in India

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Rishad Rahmani, who moved to India from Afghanistan in 2019, carries on the side of his neck a tattoo depicting flight of a pigeon, symbolising a desire of freedom for Afghans, but his mind bears the scars of his uncle’s killing at the hands of the Taliban a few years ago.

    The 22-year-old Afghan, who hails from Mazhar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province in northern part of the war-torn country, detests the mention of the word ‘Taliban’, which ironically, in Pashto means students.

    “We have a bad feeling about the situation in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over. People there are scared and we refugees in India are also tense, as many of our family members are there. So, many Afghans are fleeing their homeland left with no choice,” Rahmani said.

    ALSO READ | Airbnb to offer free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees amid exodus after Taliban takeover

    He was among hundreds of Afghan refugees, drawn from Delhi and neighbouring cities, who vociferously protested in front of the UNHCR office here, demanding safety for themselves and their compatriots in Afghanistan.

    “The Taliban claim they will not cause any harm to Afghans. But, they are already targeting people who worked for the government they just toppled, or those who were associated with the US Army when it was present in Afghanistan. They are shooting people who carry the Afghan flag,” he said.

    While sharing his thoughts on the current situation, Rahmani, who lives in an enclave of Afghan refugees in Noida, points to his pigeon tattoo, and says, “I carry this as a desire for freedom for us Afghans and for our beloved Afghanistan, which has seen decades of fractured peace due to civil war and the Taliban”.

    “My mother and other family members, living in India, are tense right now. My mother is under depression thinking about the fate of Afganistan. Her brother who was a translator was killed by the Taliban a few years ago. We had left our homeland seeking peace and better future,” he recalled.

    The Taliban swept across the country this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities in the backdrop of withdrawal of the US forces that began on May 1.

    ​ALSO READ | Afghans in Indonesia protest Taliban, demand resettlement

    On August 15, the capital city Kabul also fell to the Taliban, even as a large number of Afghans attempted in vain to flee the war-torn nation.

    The insurgent forces have now sought to portray themselves as more moderate than when they had imposed a brutal rule in the late 1990s.

    But many Afghans remain sceptical of this and fear the return of the “regressive” regime.

    Anjam Ahmad Khan, 28, another Afghan refugee, who lives with his wife and three children in Delhi, has grown pessimistic after the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, swiftly and without much force.

    “I spoke to my mother in Kabul a few days ago, she was crying. She mostly cries now. We are worried about her and other family members, as the Taliban are going after various families. With the Taliban in control, no have no hope left for Afghanistan or its people now. Taliban is not the rule of Islam, it’s just sheer terror,” he rued.

    Khan had lost an immediate family member, who worked in the country’s army, to the bullets of the Taliban, a few years ago, and its return scares him.

    “They are keeping a sham of reformed Taliban with rights for women, just to form a government. They will go back to their old ways, once they are legitimately in power. We can’t trust this regressive Taliban, which opposed learning of English by Afghans as anti-Islam, and suppressed women and girls,” he lamented.

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    Khan is also a member of the Afghanistan Solidarity Committee, an umbrella outfit of Afghan refugees in India, which organised the protest in Delhi in front of the UN Refugees Agency in Vasant Vihar.

    The protestors also demanded release of “support letters” from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), seeking to migrate to other countries for better opportunities.

    Many other refugees, men and women, echoed the woeful tales narrated by Rahmani and Khan, and for some it triggered the 1990s era when the Taliban had run riot, and later even blown up the world heritage site of the iconic Bamiyan Buddhas statutes in 2001.

    “All beautiful lands are mostly a troubled paradise. I hanker for my country, but the Taliban will not let it be our homeland. We don’t want to live like slaves in our own country. This ‘pigeon’ (tattoo) with me keeps reminding me that I will have to keep striving for my freedom too,” Rahmani said, before returning to the protesting crowd to chant slogans.

  • India’s evacuation mission from Afghanistan named ‘Operation Devi Shakti’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s complex mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul after its swift takeover by the Taliban last week has been named as “Operation Devi Shakti”.

    The name of the operation was known when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar mentioned it in a tweet on Tuesday while referring to the arrival of a fresh batch of 78 evacuees in Delhi.

    “Op Devi Shakti continues. 78 evacuees from Kabul arrive via Dushanbe. Salute @IAF_MCC, @AirIndiain and #TeamMEA for their untiring efforts.#DeviShakti,” he said.

    ALSO READ | We’ll never even think of going back to Afghanistan now: Women refugees in India

    India began the complex evacuation mission by airlifting 40 Indians from Kabul to Delhi on August 16, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital city.

    So far, India has evacuated over 800 people amid a deteriorating security situation in Kabul and scramble by various nations to rescue their citizens.

    Thousands of Afghans have been crowding around the Kabul airport for over a week, in a desperate attempt to flee the country fearing the Taliban’s brutality.

    ALSO READ | ‘Were made to sit under shadown of guns’: Gorakhpur native recalls Taliban horror

    At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 17 directed officials to ensure the safe evacuation of all Indians from Afghanistan and provide refuge to Afghan Sikhs and Hindus wanting to come to India.

    In the last few days, India stepped up its efforts to evacuate Indians and its Afghan partners from Kabul amid increasing hostilities by the Taliban.

    After India evacuated the Indian embassy staff from Kabul on August 17, Jaishankar had described the mission as a “difficult and complicated” exercise.

    On Tuesday, India brought back 78 people, including 25 of its nationals and a number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated from Kabul to the Tajik city.

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  • Evacuation from Afghanistan: India brings back 78 people, three copies of Granth Sahib

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday brought back 78 people, including 25 of its nationals and a number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated from Taliban-besieged Kabul to the Tajik city.

    The group along with three copies of the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, was airlifted from Kabul to Dushanbe by a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Monday.

    With Tuesday’s evacuation, the number of people brought back to Delhi reached over 800 since August 16 when the first group was airlifted from Kabul, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital city.

    The evacuees were received at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan.

    “Blessed to receive & pay obeisance to three holy Swaroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji from Kabul to Delhi a short while ago,” Puri tweeted.

    An Air India flight brought back the people from Dushanbe.

    “Joined Minister Shri @HardeepSPuri ji at Delhi Airport in receiving Swaroop of Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji arrived from Afghanistan along with evacuees,” Muraleedharan tweeted.

    Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said 78 people are being brought to Delhi on an Air India flight.

    “Helping in the safe return from Afghanistan. AI 1956 en route to Delhi from Dushanbe carrying 78 passengers, including 25 Indian nationals. Evacuees were flown in from Kabul on an @IAF_MCC aircraft,” he said on Twitter.

    On Monday, India brought back 146 of its nationals to Delhi in four different flights from the Qatari capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Kabul by NATO and American aircraft.

    India has stepped up efforts to evacuate its citizens as well as its Afghan partners from Kabul in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital and other parts of the country after the Taliban swept to power last week.

    On Sunday, India evacuated 392 people including two Afghan lawmakers in three different flights under the evacuation mission.

    The Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15.

    Within two days of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, India evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in the Afghan capital.

    The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy on August 16.

    The second aircraft evacuated around 150 people including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and some stranded Indians from Kabul on August 17.

    India carried out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.

    The Taliban swept across Afghanistan this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities, including Kabul, in the backdrop of the withdrawal of the US forces.

    “The Afghan Sikhs will stay at a hotel in Karol Bagh till further arrangements are made,” said Kanv Bhalla, an entrepreneur coordinating rehabilitation efforts on behalf of New York-based philanthropist Mandeep Singh Sobti.

    Sobti and Paramjeet Singh Anand through their Sobti Foundation have undertaken the rehabilitation of these distressed Afghans in coordination with and under the guidance of the government of India, he said.

    They arrived in Delhi on an Air India flight around 9.50 am (Tuesday), said Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the Indian World Forum, an organisation coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Ministry of External Affairs and the IAF.

    The three copies of Guru Granth Sahib will be taken to Guru Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara in New Mahavir Nagar, Chandhok said.

    Nearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan.

    These people have taken shelter at the Karte Parwan gurdwara in Kabul, which is close to the airport, he added.

    According to people sheltered in the gurdwara, the 10-km drive to the international airport through various checkpoints is one of the biggest challenges in the rescue efforts.

    Around 75 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are likely to be evacuated soon, Chandhok said.

    Till Monday night, India had brought around 730 people from Afghanistan as part of the evacuation mission that began on August 16, a day after Kabul fell to the Taliban.

    Thousands of Afghans have been crowding around the Kabul airport for nearly a week in a desperate attempt to flee the country fearing the Taliban’s brutality.

    India is carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.

  • Will attend all-party meet on Afghanistan crisis, says Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that representatives of the ruling TMC in the state would be attending the all-party meeting called by the Centre to discuss the Afghanistan crisis.

    The Centre has called for an all-party meeting on August 26 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover.

    “We will definitely be attending Thursday’s all-party meeting on Afghanistan, called by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),” the TMC supremo told reporters at the state secretariat.

    The Taliban swept across Afghanistan this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities, including Kabul, following the withdrawal of the US forces from the country.

    The central government’s briefing is expected to focus on India’s evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as the government’s assessment of the developing situation in Afghanistan.

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  • Three Sikh scripture copies, 75 people being flown in from Kabul to India on IAF aircraft 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib and 75 people, including 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, are being evacuated from war-ravaged Afghanistan on an IAF plane, people coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Indian government said on Monday.

    Nearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan, said Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the Indian World Forum, an organisation coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force (IAF).

    “These people have taken shelter at the Karte Parwan gurdwara in Kabul, which is close to the airport,” he added. Announcing the evacuation flight, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to say, “Three Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are being escorted to the IAF aircraft at Kabul Airport. Forty-six Afghan Hindus and Sikhs along with stranded Indian nationals are blessed to return on the same flight.”

    ALSO READ | Centre to brief leaders of political parties on developments in Afghanistan

    “Seventy-five people are on the flight. Three Guru Granth Sahib ji are also being brought to India,” Chandhok said.

    Referring to those still stranded in Kabul, he said the 10-kilometre-long drive to the international airport from the Gurdwara Karte Parwan through various checkpoints is one of the biggest challenges in the rescue efforts.

    Around 100 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are likely to be evacuated in a couple of hours, Chandhok added.

    The evacuation of these 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus at such a challenging time is a big relief for us, said Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, which is also coordinating with the Indian government in the evacuation mission.

    “US security forces escorted these people to the Kabul airport,” he said.

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    India on Monday brought back 146 citizens on four different flights from Qatar’s capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Afghanistan by NATO and American aircraft amid the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country.

    On Sunday, it had evacuated 392 individuals from Kabul on three flights.

    Among them were 24 Afghan Sikhs, including two Afghan MPs — Narinder Singh Khalsa and Anarkali Kaur Honaryar — and their families.

    India is carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.

  • When the music stops: Afghan ‘happy place’ falls silent

    By Associated Press

    A few years after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and with Afghanistan still in ruins, Ahmad Sarmast left his home in Melbourne, Australia, on a mission: to revive music in the country of his birth.The school he founded was a unique experiment in inclusiveness for the war-ravaged nation — with orphans and street kids in the student body, it sought to bring a measure of joy back to Kabul. The Taliban had notoriously banned music.Last week, he watched in horror from his home in Melbourne images of the Taliban taking over the Afghan capital, capping a lightning offensive that restored the religious militia to power and stunned the world.Sarmat’s two mobile phones haven’t stopped ringing since. Many of the calls are from panicked students asking him what happens next. Will the school be closed? Would the Taliban outlaw music again? Are their treasured instruments safe? “I’m heartbroken,” Sarmast told The Associated Press. “It was so unexpected and so unpredictable that it was like an explosion, and everyone was caught by surprise,” he said of the Taliban takeover.Sarmast had left Kabul on July 12 for his summer holiday, never imagining that just few weeks later the whole project and everything he’d worked for the past 20 years would be endangered. He’s terrified for his 350 students and 90 faculty, many of whom have already gone into hiding. Reports of Taliban searching for adversaries door-to-door have fanned their worries.”We are all very, very fearful about the future of music, we are very fearful about our girls, about our faculty,” he said. Sarmast, who spoke in a Zoom interview, requested that additional details about the students and school not be published, because he did not want to endanger them.In a sign of what the future holds, radio and TV stations stopped broadcasting music, except for Islamic songs — though it was not clear if the change in programming was a result of Taliban edicts or an effort by the stations to avoid potential problems with the insurgents.Sarmast, 58, the son of a famous Afghan composer and conductor, had sought asylum in Australia in the 90s, a time of civil war in Afghanistan.In 1996, the Taliban swept into power. The ultra-religious movement banned music as sinful, with the sole exception being some religious vocal pieces. Cassette tapes were ripped apart and strung from trees.But after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Islamists, Sarmast dreamed of renewal. After obtaining a doctorate in musicology, he returned to Afghanistan and in 2010 founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.Donations from foreign governments and private sponsors soon poured in. The World Bank gave a cash grant of 2 million U.S. dollars. Almost 5 tons of musical equipment — violins, pianos, guitars and oboes — were trucked in, a gift from the German government and the German Society of Music Merchants. Students learned to play traditional Afghan string instruments like the rubab, sitar and sarod. The tabla drum was among the favourites.”It was such an amazing school, everything was perfect,” said Elham Fanous, 24, who was the first student to graduate from the music institute in 2014, after spending seven years at the school.”It changed my life and I really owe it to them,” he said of the school, which he describes as Afghanistan’s LaGuardia, a public high school in New York specialized in teaching music and arts. A visitor once called it “Afghanistan’s happy place.””I cannot believe this is happening,” Fanous added, speaking from New York, where he recently received his master’s degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music. He was also the first student from Afghanistan to be admitted to a U.S. university music program. The institute’s musicians traveled all over the world to represent their country, presenting a different face for a place known in the West only for war and extremism. Fanous himself performed at concerts in Poland, Italy and Germany.In 2013, the institute’s youth orchestra embarked on its first U.S. tour, appearing at the Kennedy Center and selling out Carnegie Hall. Members of the orchestra included a girl who not long before had sold chewing gum on the streets of Kabul. An all-female orchestra called Zohra, named after a goddess of music in Persian literature, was set up in 2015.In 2014, Sarmast was attending a concert in the auditorium of a French-run high school in Kabul when a huge bomb went off. He partially lost hearing in one ear and has had numerous operations to remove shrapnel from the back of his head since. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, accusing him in a statement of corrupting Afghanistan’s youth. That only increased his determination, and he continued to split his time between running the school in Kabul, and Australia, where his family lives.Today, he aches when he thinks of the melodies once echoing down the school corridors and the lives of boys and girls now being upended.”We’re all shattered, because my kids, they’ve been dreaming. They had huge dreams to be on the biggest stage of the world,” Sarmast said. “All my students had been dreaming of a peaceful Afghanistan. But that peaceful Afghanistan is fading away.” Still, he hangs on to hope, believing young Afghans will resist. He is also counting on the international artistic community to put up a fight for the Afghans’ right to music.”I’m still hopeful that my kids will be allowed to go back to the school and continue and to enjoy from learning and playing music,” he said.  

  • Small group of Indian officials coordinating evacuation missions at Kabul airport

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A small group of Indian officials is coordinating the country’s evacuation missions at the Kabul international airport amid continuing chaos and a challenging ground situation, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

    The multi-agency group has been coordinating with the American officials handling security at the airport as well as other relevant authorities, they said.

    India evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in Kabul, in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF by Tuesday in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital city.

    ALSO READ: India brings back 392 people from Afghanistan including 2 Afghan lawmakers

    Kabul fell to the Taliban last Sunday.

    It is not immediately clear when the multi-agency team was deployed at the Kabul airport.

    On Monday last, the Ministry of External Affairs set up a special Afghanistan cell to coordinate repatriation of Indians and handle related matters.

    Sources said the cell received more than 2,000 phone calls and answered over 6,000 WhatsApp queries during the first five days of its operation.

    It replied to more than 1,200 e-mails during the period.

    India on Sunday brought back 392 people, including two Afghan lawmakers, in three different flights as part of its mission to evacuate Indians and Afghan partners from Kabul.

    A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

    Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals was brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF 130J transport aircraft, officials said.

    Separately, 135 Indians, who were earlier evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were flown back from the Qatari capital city to Delhi in a special flight, they said.

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