People who were stranded in crisis-hit Afghanistan arrive by a special repatriation flight of IAF at the Hindan Air Force Station, in Ghaziabad on August 22, 2021. (PTI Photo)
New Delhi, August 22 (PTI): "Everything is finished", don't know what the future holds for us"-- these were the words of an Afghan lawmaker and a mother of an infant who burst into tears as soon as they arrived at the Hindon airbase along with over 160 other evacuees from Taliban-besieged Afghanistan on Sunday morning.
While a sense of relief and gratitude was palpable among the evacuees who came to India after days of uncertainty following Kabul's fall to the Taliban, many of them recounted the fear they faced in the past one week and termed the decision to leave Afghanistan and their lives back there a "difficult" one.
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The group included Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families, people familiar with the evacuation mission said.
"I feel like crying. Everything is finished. It is a very difficult and painful decision to leave the country. We have not seen such a situation. Everything has been snatched away. It's all over," Sikh Lawmaker Khalsa told reporters.
"All the achievements of the last 20 years in Afghanistan have been lost. Nothing is left. It's zero now," he added.
Terming India his "second home", Khalsa narrated his horror story which unfolded as their vehicle was separated from a convoy of those being taken to the Kabul airport for rescue.
"They (Taliban) separated us from others while going to the Kabul airport yesterday (Saturday) as we were Afghan nationals. We fled from there because small children were with us," he told reporters at Hindon.
The lawmaker, a resident of Kabul, expressed hopes that he will manage to go back to his country after it rebuilds itself.
"India is our second home. We have been living there since generations. We pray to God that Afghanistan is rebuilt, and we can go back there to tend to our gurdwaras and temples and serve the people," Khalsa added.
Explaining the ground situation in Afghanistan and its new rulers, Khalsa said, "The Taliban is not one group. There are 10-12 sections. It is hard to find who is a Talib and who is not."
The mother of an infant who broke down while she was waiting with the baby in her arms for an RT-PCR test here, said, "The past seven days have been very stressful for us with no clue about what future holds for us. It all looks very uncertain".
Another infant was among the evacuees who arrived on Sunday. An overhwhelmed little girl could be seen kissing the infant in pictures from the airbase.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that the infant has travelled to India without a passport.
Honaryar, a member of the Upper House of Afghan Parliament, in a video message, said "I thank the Government of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force for lifting us from Kabul and saving my life."
All the evacuees arriving at Hindon and Delhi's IGI airport underwent RP-PCR tests, officials said.
Alladad Qureshi, an Afghan national whose wife hails from Kashmir, expressed a sense of relief as he interacted with mediapersons at Hindon.
"I have two daughters. We thank the Government of India, Modiji, MEA and air force for saving us," he said.
Manik Mandal, a young jeweller who had gone to Afghanistan six months ago in search of livelihood, smiled as he said, "We faced a lot of problems in Kabul, but our government saved us."
India on Sunday brought back nearly 400 people, including 329 of its nationals, in three different flights as part of its efforts to evacuate its citizens from Kabul.
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the IAF.
Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF aircraft, officials said.
Separately, a group of 135 Indians who were earlier evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were flown back from Doha to Delhi on a special flight, they said.
India carried out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.
Two days after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, India 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.
The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy, on Monday last.
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.
