The Latest: India evacuates 168 people on flight from Kabul

August 22, 2021 11 Views No Comment

NEW DELHI, August 22 (AP) — An Indian official says an air force transport plane has left Kabul for New Delhi carrying 168 people on board.

Arindam Bagchi, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, says the plane took off from Kabul on Sunday morning and the passengers include 107 Indian nationals. He didn’t give the nationalities of 61 others evacuated from the Afghan capital.

Meanwhile, another group of 87 Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan on Saturday in an Indian air force plane are being flown to New Delhi on Sunday, Bagchi said in a tweet. Two Nepalese nationals also were evacuated on that flight.

India began evacuating its nationals last Sunday after the Taliban swept into Kabul.

The Press Trust of India news agency said around 400 Indians were believed to be stranded in Afghanistan. No official figure was available.

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is considering calling on U.S. commercial airlines to provide planes and crews to assist in transporting Afghan refugees once they are evacuated from their country by military aircraft.

The U.S. Transportation Command says in a statement Saturday that the Pentagon has not approved or ordered any activation of commercial airlines as allowed under the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which adds to military aircraft capability during a crisis related to national defense.

However, the Transportation Command said it had issued a warning order to U.S. carriers Friday night on the possible activation of the program. The order was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

If called upon under the voluntary program, commercial airlines would transport evacuees from way stations outside Afghanistan to another country or from Virginia’s Dulles International Airport to U.S. military bases.

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MOSCOW — The Russian ambassador in Kabul says the Taliban have asked his embassy to convey their offer of a deal to a remaining pro-government holdout in northern Afghanistan.

Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov said on Saturday that a senior member of the Taliban’s political leadership has asked Russia to tell fighters in the Panjshir Valley that the Taliban hope to reach a political agreement to settle the situation there.

The diplomat says the Taliban claim they don’t want bloodshed in the region.

The Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, a stronghold of the Northern Alliance militias that were allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, is the only area that hasn’t fallen to the Taliban.

Afghan government figures who have sought refuge there as Kabul and the rest of the country fell to the Taliban include Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who asserted on Twitter that he’s now the country’s rightful president, after President Ashraf Ghani fled to the United Arab Emirates.

Moscow, which fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops’ withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator during the past years, reaching out to various Afghan factions, including the Taliban.