Taliban | Afghanistan
Afghanistan Crisis: 150 Indians questioned by Taliban now safe at Kabul airport
Kabul: The 150 Indians, who were initially reported to have been questioned by the Taliban, are now safe and waiting at the Kabul airport from where they will be flown back to India on Sunday, media reports said.
The Indians waiting at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul are likely to be flown back on Sunday, NDTV reported, citing sources.
Earlier, nearly 85 Indias were rescued and flown to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and will be brought to New Delhi on an Air India flight overnight, sources said, according to NDTV.
Some more rescued Indians will also be brought back to India on Vistara and IndiGo flights from the UAE, the report added.
Earlier, Indian citizens waiting outside Kabul airport for evacuation flights were taken to a nearby police station for questioning and checking of travel documents, a top government source said, stated the report.
Local media reports had said that they had been abducted, triggering panic back home.
While India has evacuated most of the embassy officials, at least 1,000 more Indians still remain in Afghanistan in different cities and ascertaining their whereabouts remains a challenge, according to the Home Ministry.
Of them, are 200 Sikhs and Hindus at a gurdwara in Kabul. On late Wednesday, Taliban had released a video of the gurdwara head saying he had been assured of safety.
Meanwhile, the Taliban, which is trying to project a rational and modern image, sent messages to Delhi urging against the evacuation of embassy staff, saying India had nothing to fear for their safety, said the NDTV report.
However, soon after seizing after the fall of Afghanistan's civilian government, Taliban forces had entered at least two of India's consulates, "ransacked" offices and took away documents and parked vehicles.
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