Taliban reneged on Doha commitments, says Indian government at all-party meet; reiterates evacuation of all Indians top priority

The Modi government told 31 opposition parties at an all-party meet that its immediate priority is the evacuation of all Indians from Afghanistan

Aug 26, 2021
Image
Taliban reneged on Doha commitments

The Modi government told 31 opposition parties at an all-party meet that its immediate priority is the evacuation of all Indians from Afghanistan. Senior government officials, led by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, told the opposition the Taliban broke promises made during peace talks in Doha, Qatar. This was during an all-party meet called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief the opposition on the "critical" Afghanistan situation, Indian media reported. 

Around 15,000 people have sought assistance in fleeing from Afghanistan, sources said, adding that Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had stressed that evacuation of Indians is a "top priority".

"We have brought back most Indians... not all. Some could not make it for yesterday's flight. We will definitely try and bring back everyone. We have instituted an e-visa policy and the government is strongly committed to ensuring a full evacuation as soon as possible," Jaishankar was quoted as saying. 

He also said Prime Minister Modi had spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. There will be more such high-level calls in the days to come, he said.

"We have undertaken evacuation operations in extremely difficult conditions, especially at the airport. Our immediate concern and task is evacuation, and the long-term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people," Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.

After the meeting, Congress leader Mallikarujun Kharge told news agency ANI his party had also expressed concern over newspaper reports that a female Afghan MP was deported after arriving in New Delhi. He said the government had told him a "mistake" had been made, that "it won't be repeated". and that it would "look into the matter".

India, which has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul, has evacuated over 300 of its citizens so far. 
 
However, evacuations have been slowed by the volatile security situation in and around the airport in Kabul, control of which is split between occupying Taliban forces and the United States.

Post a Comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.