India's Afghanistan rescue mission: A C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at Jamnagar on Tuesday evening after flying from Kabul. The flight with over 120 Indian diplomats, officials and journalist had flown from Kabul internatioal airport earlier in the day under testing situations in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The IAF is known for carrying out such rescue missions, however, given the Taliban's swift capture of Afghanistan following the pullout of US forces made this particular operation more challenging.
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The chaotic scenes at the Kabul international airport that world witnessed on August 16 made it impossible for any aircraft to land or takeoff from there. The US forces, that are still commanding the airport, faced a tough time handling a sea of Afghans wanting to somehow fly out of the country fearing a Taliban onslaught.
For evacuations, India parked its C-17 at Ayni Air Base in Tajikistan as there was a huge rush at Kabul airport, sources said. The jumbo aircraft of the IAF was on standby at Ayni Air Base and flew to Kabul when cleared by the US which is controlling Kabul airport, they added.
Desperate scenes at Kabul airport as hundreds try to board plane after Taliban takeover | VIDEO
Sources added that India is also exploring options to hire charter planes to evacuate more Indians from Afghanistan.
PM Modi monitoring IAF evacuation from Afghanistan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in constant touch with officials regarding the situation. He was taking stock of situation till late night yesterday and was updated when the flight took off. He instructed that adequate arrangements be made to ensure providing food for all those who returned at Jamnagar, sources said.
Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon told reporters in Jamnagar that the situation in Kabul is complex and "quite fluid" now and that Indians stuck in the city will be brought back home when the commercial flight services resume.
"Happy to be back home safely and securely. We are a very large mission.
We are a mission of 192 personnel who were evacuated from Afghanistan literally within three days in a very orderly fashion in two phases," he said.
Tandon, who assumed charge as Indian ambassador in Afghanistan in August last year, said the embassy assisted and even gave shelter to many distressed Indians following the fast-changing situation in Kabul.
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