News Analysis India

Tag: Afghanistan

  • India to be part of all G7 talks on Afghanistan

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The G7 leaders, who met to discuss the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday, have decided that India would be included in further discussions on the war-torn country. According to sources, the decision to include India in future discussions was taken keeping in mind India’s interests in the region. India has economic interests worth around $3 billion in Afghanistan.

    It is learnt that the decision to include India in further negotiations by the G7 was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a 45-minute conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders agreed to establish a permanent channel to deal with the situation in Afghanistan.

    Meanwhile, sources said India is ready to engage with anyone who has its national interests in mind. Without naming the Taliban, sources added that New Delhi was ready to protect its interests in Afghanistan by engaging with entities who are ready to secure their economic and security interests in the war-torn country.

    Earlier also, India had hinted that it was engaging with the Taliban. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, when asked about India holding talks with the group, had said it was a fact that the militant group and its representatives had taken control of Afghanistan. “It is time to take it forward from here,” he added.

    External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to a question and without denying the engagement with the Taliban, had stated India was in touch with all stakeholders in Afghanistan.

    Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that some of the evacuees from Afghanistan, who landed in the capital on Tuesday, have tested positive for coronavirus. They are said to be asymptomatic and are in quarantine. Some of theose who tested positive, had come in contact with Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan at the airport.

  • ‘This was all China’s and Pakistan’s plan’: Talking Afghanistan with Kolkata’s Kabuliwalas

    Online Desk

    KOLKATA: The deepest cut to peace and stability in our neighbourhood in recent times ended up being inflicted on India’s independence day. On August 15, 2021, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country, making way for the Taliban to take over the Presidential Palace in Kabul. 

    The tremors of the downfall of Afghanistan’s experiment in democracy were felt around the world, especially by non-resident Afghans. The diaspora erupted in protest in various countries. More than 2,000 kms away from Kabul, in the city of Kolkata, many Afghans gave up food and water after Ghani’s departure from Kabul. 

    “Many in the Afghan community considered Ashraf Ghani a beacon of hope. They cried when he left. Many stopped eating too,” said Yasmin Nigar Khan, the President of the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind. “Ghani has not tendered his resignation yet, which means constitutionally, the democracy is still upheld by the Vice President and has not been surrendered to the Taliban,” she went on to insist.

    Yasmin is the granddaughter of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also called ‘Badshah Khan’ and famously known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, a devout ally of Mahatma Gandhi who led a non-violent movement for the rights of the Pashtuns in the then North-West Frontier Province. 

    Letters sent by ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan from Afghanistan’s Jalalabad to Khan Lala Jan Khan in the 1970s. (Photo | Moyurie Som)

    According to Yasmin, her father Khan Lala Jaan Khan was adopted by Abdul Ghaffar Khan and made the torchbearer of the dream of Pakhtoon independence. All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind was born in 1983. Based out of Kolkata, it is the continuation of Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Pakhtoon dream and offers a stage for Afghan expatriates and visitors to unite and support each other as a community.

    “My father used to take me along to his meetings and conferences since I was a child. He told everyone, ‘She will lead the organisation when I am gone’. So, here I am,” Yasmin said. 

    Defying what she called the orthodox ‘Talibani mindset’, she became the president of the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind when she was just 25 years old. “Sixty per cent of our community were opposed to having a woman as a leader. But they were won over when the then Home Minister Indrajit Gupta agreed to meet me within one or two days of my assuming office and promised me his full support for the Pathans in India,” Yasmin remembered fondly. 

    Her one and only trip as a teenager to Kabul in 1986 is still fresh in her mind. “Women would wear jeans and skirts, and go to schools and colleges. Many wore headscarves, many didn’t,” she recalled. 

    These might prove to be acts of extreme defiance in a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan now. But Yasmin seeks to impart courage. “To the women in Afghanistan right now, I’d say, don’t be scared. You’re not alone, women all over the world are here to support you.” 

    What about the bonds that tie Kabul with Kolkata? According to both Yasmin, as well as Amir Khan, who leads the pan-Indian Pakhtoon organisation named ‘Khudai Khidmatgar’, many Afghans travel to India, particularly to Kolkata, primarily to access its affordable healthcare facilities.

    “The wars in Afghanistan have left the Afghans with no proper healthcare system that they can fully rely on. Kolkata promises them not just healthcare but also a community they can connect with,” Amir said. 

    His work in Khudai Khidmatgar connects him with many Afghan travellers who come to Kolkata and they have remained in touch with him even after returning to Afghanistan.

    Danish Khan, Yasmin’s younger brother and the secretary of The All-India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, recalled a famous incident to emphasise the acceptance Pathans have in the City of Joy. “When Netaji famously escaped from his house arrest, he took on the guise of a Pathan. He went to Germany through Afghanistan, and the Afghans supported him in his journey.”

    Danish Khan (L), secretary, and his older sister Yasmin Nigar Khan (R), president of the All Indian Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind outside their Karim Nagar Lane office in Kolkata. (Photo | Moyurie Som)

    The Afghan expatriates in Kolkata are popularly known as ‘Kabuliwalas’, meaning ‘those from Kabul’. The term gained heightened prominence after the eponymous novel by Rabindranath Tagore and its famous feature film adaptation. The Pathan protagonist in Tagore’s imagination was a dry-fruit seller who developed a fatherly affection for Mini, a child in a middle-class Bengali household. Another Bengali author and journalist, Syed Mujtaba Ali, also popularised Afghanistan in Bengali culture with his vivid, and often humorous travelogues from his teaching assignment at Kabul.

    Although ‘Kabuliwalas’ are popularly known to be moneylenders, according to Amir, the Pathans in Kolkata are currently engaged in a variety of professions like selling clothes and dry fruits. Born and raised in the city, Amir himself runs a car dealership for used and refurbished cars.

    Ruzi Khan, one of the many Pashtuns who attended Yasmin’s conference on August 19, Afghan Independence Day, is a garment seller in Kolkata’s Bowbazar. “We (the Afghan expatriates) have been in India for a long time now, and we are very very happy with our lives here. Our friendship with India is not new. But when it comes to our people back in Afghanistan, whose lives are in danger, we hope India will take care of them the way they took care of us,” he said, teary-eyed.

    The conference — a passionate, emotion-laden affair — saw members speak fondly of the Afghanistan they call ‘home’.

    Members of the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind pose with the Afghan flag during the conference on the occasion of the Afghan Independence Day on August 19, 2021, in Kolkata. (Photo | Moyurie Som)

    “We don’t want them (the Taliban), we don’t accept them and we don’t work for them. The new Islam is not our Islam,” said Hashem Khan, on the verge of tears. “China betrayed us, Pakistan betrayed us, Iran betrayed us. America, who was our friend for twenty years, betrayed us… This was all China’s and Pakistan’s plan.”

    The gathering ended with the Afghan national anthem and slogans denouncing Pakistan and Taliban and supporting India. 

  • Afghan crisis: India brings back 146 evacuated citizens from Doha 

    By PTI

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

    People familiar with the development said the Indians were flown back to Delhi as part of India’s mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul following its takeover by the Taliban over a week back, they said.

    It was the second batch of Indians to be brought back from Doha after their evacuation from Kabul.

    A total of 135 Indians were flown back to Delhi from Doha in a special flight on Sunday.

    Out of the second batch of Indians who returned home from Doha, 104 people were brought back in a Vistara flight, 30 by a Qatar Airways flight and 11 of them returned by an Indigo flight.

    One person returned by an Air India flight, they said.

    India on Sunday brought back 392 people including two Afghan lawmakers in three different flights under the evacuation mission amid a continued scramble by various countries to rescue their citizens from Kabul.

    The total number of people evacuees included the first batch of 135 Indians who were flown back from Doha.

    It is learnt that the Indians evacuated to Doha from Kabul were employees of a number of foreign companies that were operating in Afghanistan and they were flown out of Kabul by NATO and American aircraft.

    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.

    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.

  • Afghan crisis exhibits importance of CAA in India: BJP leader Ramchander Rao

    By ANI

    HYDERABAD:: The Afghanistan crisis has exhibited the importance of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the country, said Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Ramchander Rao on Monday.

    Speaking to ANI, Rao said that the religious persecution of Hindus and Sikhs in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan has forced them to leave their homes. “They have to leave their homes. Where will they go if not India? Looking at the situation in Afghanistan, we can see how important CAA is for our country,” he stated.

    “People of India will now realise that this step taken by the government will help all these Hindus and Sikhs who are being thrown away from Afghanistan,” he added. He further stated that the government will ensure to evacuate all Indians stranded in Afghanistan.

    ALSO READ| Developments in volatile neighbourhood are the reason why CAA is necessary: Hardeep Singh Puri

    Rao’s statement on CAA came in the wake of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s tweet earlier on Sunday.

    Sharing a news article, Singh had tweeted, “Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood and the way Sikhs and Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act.”

    With the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, countries are rushing to evacuate their citizens from the war-torn nation. The CAA allows persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to avail of Indian citizenship.

    According to the provisions of the act, people belonging to these communities who arrived in India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in these three countries will not be treated as illegal migrants but will be provided with Indian citizenship.

    The Opposition parties and several groups have protested against the implementation of the CAA and said that the law coupled with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise targets the minorities in India.

  • Karzai’s mistakes revived Taliban, says Afghanistan ambassador to Tajikistan

    Express News Service

    THIRUVANTHAPURAM:  The Taliban’s resurgence and swift takeover of Kabul was made possible due to the ‘historic mistakes’ committed by former president Hamid Karzai, said Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, the Afghanistan ambassador to Tajikistan.

    Speaking to TNIE from Dushanbe, Aghbar accused Karzai of allowing the Taliban to entrench in the northern parts of the war-torn country. “The intelligence reports said Karzai administration was facilitating the Taliban’s growth in the  northern parts. He did not approve military actions against the Taliban, addressed them as brothers and freed the Taliban prisoners. It’s because of the mistakes of the Karzai administration that Afghanistan is in this grave situation.” 

    Karzai was in power for a decade since 2004. The former president has joined a coordination council alongside Abdullah Abdullah and politician Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to negotiate with the Taliban upon their return.  Aghbar did not spare Abdullah Abdullah, saying the former Chief Executive of Afghanistan  did not standing up to the corruption and nepotism of Ashraf Ghani.

    Ghani had recruited top army officers loyal to him, but did not check their credentials, Aghbar claimed. “The military officials appointed by Ghani seem to have made deals with the Taliban and that resulted in easy surrender. Those in the bottom of the chain of command easily gave up their positions to Taliban.” 

    Meanwhile, he also appreciated the ongoing talks between Taliban and other political and ethic leaders. “The country needs peace. No one will win by fighting. Leaders like Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor also want an inclusive government. But Taliban should not repeat what they did in the past. If they try to impose a gruesome rule, then we will resist it.”

    Aghbar, meanwhile, welcomed Khalil Haqqani’s peace overtures to  Ahmad Shah Massoud’s son Ahmad Massoud.  The Afghanistan ambassador said Massoud’s son Ahmed Massoud had started preparations to face the Taliban at the Panjshir Valley — the only province still out of Taliban control — almost four months ago when the scenario was growing worse. “He had prepared the headquarters and named the proposed offensive as resistance 2.0,” Aghbar added.

    Massoud, former vice-president and self-proclaimed acting president of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh and former defence minister General Bismillah Mohammadi are the leaders of this resistance. The Taliban had earlier claimed Ahmed Massoud had  joined hands with it. But, Ahmed Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, has maintained that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and won’t surrender to the Taliban, who have seized the country after the US and allied forces left Kabul.There are now reports of foreign agencies that the Taliban saying that “hundreds” of its fighters were heading to the Panjshir Valley, which is one of the few regions of Afghanistan not under its control.

    Polio vax for Afghan refugees: Govt

    India has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees against polio for free as a preventive measure against the wild polio virus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic. “We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free polio vaccine as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus. Congratulations to the health team for its efforts,” Mandaviya tweeted.

  • Indians stranded in Afghanistan to return home safely: Union Minister V Muraleedharan

    By Express News Service

    KOCHI: Union Minister of State for External Affairs of India, V Muraleedharan assured that all Indians stranded in Afghanisthan will return home safely. The government has stepped up its evacuation process given the chaotic situation in Kabul. The minister was addressing the media at the flagging off of the digital van awareness campaign on covid vaccination and covid appropriate behaviour in association with Ernakulam Press Club, here on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

    Speaking about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control over the country, the minister said, “The government has sped up its evacuation process to bring stranded Indians from Afganisthan at the earliest. The government will bring back all Indians including Malayalees who want to return to their home.”

    Upon asking about the release of Malayalees who joined the Islamic State from Kabul jail, Muraleedharan said that no information on the matter has been received so far.

    As part of the evacuation, MEA has set up a 24×7 working cell to help Indian nationals who want to come to India. The cell is responding to all the requests received through e-mail and helplines. “In the initial stage of the evacuation operation, employees of the Indian Embassy were brought back. Following this, all Indians including Malayalees who have sent requests through MEA’s helpline and an e-mail will be brought back soon,” assured Muraleedharan. “Based on the preliminary estimation, nearly 500 Indians are stranded there. The government will take steps to ensure their safe travel to the Kabul airport,” he added. 

  • Developments in volatile neighbourhood are the reason why CAA is necessary: Hardeep Singh Puri

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI:: After a special Indian Air Force (IAF) repatriation flight ferrying 168 people from Kabul landed at Ghaziabad Hindon air base on Sunday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that developments in the volatile neighbourhood are the reason why enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act is necessary.

    Sharing a news article, Singh tweeted, “Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood and the way Sikhs and Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act.”

    People in Afghanistan have been rushing to leave the country after the Taliban seized control last week. On August 15, the country’s government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the country. Countries have been urgently evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation. The Kabul airport is witnessing nowadays a heavy chaos due to instability in the region.

    The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said the government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan. The MEA said that the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport.

    MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, tweeted earlier to say that two Nepalese citizens were among those on board the Air India flight from Kabul. The CAA allows persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to avail of Indian citizenship.

    According to the provisions of the act, people belonging to these communities who arrived in India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in these three countries will not be treated as illegal migrants but will be provided with Indian citizenship.

    If a person belongs to the aforementioned faiths, from these three countries, does not have proof of birth of parents, they can apply for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in India. President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the legislation on December 12, 2019.

    The Opposition parties and several groups have protested against the implementation of CAA. CAA’s detractors believe that the law coupled with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise is intended to target the minorities in India.

  • Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut likens India’s partition to situation in Afghanistan

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday likened India’s partition to the present situation in Afghanistan and said it reminds people of the pain of destruction of a country’s existence and sovereignty.

    In his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Raut also said if Nathuram Godse had killed Jinnah, “who was responsible for creating Pakistan”, instead of Mahatma Gandhi, the partition could have been avoided and there would have been no need for observing August 14 as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’.

    “The situation in Afghanistan reminds us of what is the pain of destruction of a country’s existence and sovereignty,” the Marathi daily’s executive editor said. Raut compared India’s partition to the current situation in Afghanistan where, he said, its troops “ran away”.

    “How can the pain of partition be eased unless the part which was broken away is included back? There will be no peace of mind. Even though we feel an ‘Akhand Hindustan’ should happen, it doesn’t look possible. But, hope is eternal. If PM Narendra Modi wants an ‘Akhand Hindustan, he is welcome. He should also speak about what he plans to do about 11 crore Muslims from Pakistan,” he said.

    The advocates of ‘Akhand Hindustan’ had accepted the idea of the Muslim League and two-nation theory and did not fight against it, he said while quoting Marathi writer Narhar Kurundkar on the issue. Raut said Mahatma Gandhi was not in active politics when a system of separate Muslim electorate was introduced by the British.

    Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru abolished the system of separate Muslim electorate and special perks for them when India gained freedom, said the Sena leader, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

    He also said Muslim leaders had left the Congress when Gandhi refused their unreasonable demands.

  • Afghan returnees to be vaccinated against polio in India: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees against polio for free as a preventive measure against the wild polio virus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday. The minister also shared a photo where returnees could be seen getting jabs at the Delhi international airport.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic. “We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus. Congratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public health Take a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport,” Mandaviya tweeted.

    We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio VirusCongratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public healthTake a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport pic.twitter.com/jPVF1lVmRu
    — Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 22, 2021
    India on Sunday evacuated 168 people including 107 Indians from Kabul in a military transport aircraft of the IAF amid the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital city following its takeover by the Taliban a week back.

    The country had earlier 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 after the Taliban seized control of Kabul. The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy, on Monday.

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

  • Taliban maligning Islam through terror activities: Ajmer Dargah spiritual head Syed Jainul Abedin

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Spiritual head of the Ajmer Dargah Syed Jainul Abedin on Saturday said the Taliban is maligning Islam through terror activities in the name of the “shariyat”. He said that restrictions on women and killings in the name of the Islamic law cannot be supported and are a crime in Islam.

    Terror and dictatorial activities of the Taliban are promoting hatred towards Islam in the world, the spiritual head of the Ajmer shrine said. “The Taliban is maligning Islam by terror activities in the name of shariyat (Islamic law),” Abedin said in a statement referring to attacks by the Taliban after capturing Afghanistan.

    He said that Afghanistan has fallen into the hands of brutal Taliban and the rule of destruction, restrictions on women and killings have started in this country.

    Such deeds in the name of “shariyat” are a crime in Islam and cannot be supported, he said, adding that the Taliban has interpreted the law differently to fulfil its agenda of terrorism and governance as per their agenda.

    He said people should always give a priority to the national interest. The first duty should be to save our country, maintain unity and peace and then think about ourselves, he added. “I strongly condemn those who support and welcome the illegal authority of the Taliban and their terrorist ideology,” he said.

    He further said, “The Muslim of India, being a peaceful citizen, does not support and welcome ideology of the Taliban, which is against the basic teachings of Islam.”