Afghanistan crisis: IAF flight carrying 107 Indians from Kabul lands at Hindon air force base

NEW DELHI: An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 aircraft carrying 168 passengers, including 107 Indians, that took off from Afghanistan's capital Kabul earlier on Sunday morning has landed at the Hindon Air Force base in Ghaziabad. 

107 Indians out of 168 passengers on a special repatriation flight from Kabul on Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft have landed at the Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad, reported news agency ANI.

Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft that took off from #Afghanistan's Kabul earlier this morning, lands at Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad.

168 people, including 107 Indian nationals, were onboard the aircraft. pic.twitter.com/gDMozFkzEA — ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021

Meanwhile, two other flights carrying around 350 people evacuated from Kabul, on Saturday - Air India and IndiGo - landed in Delhi from Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe and Qatar's Doha on Sunday morning.

All the passengers will first undergo the mandatory COVID-19 RT-PCR test before being allowed to leave the airport, the officials said.

#WATCH | 168 passengers, including 107 Indian nationals, arrive at Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad from Kabul, onboard Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft

Passengers are yet to come out of the airport as they will first undergo the #COVID19 RT-PCR test.#Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/x7At7oB8YK — ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021

According to the MEA estimates, around 400 Indians are stranded in Afghanistan. India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan, government sources said.

The permission was granted by American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces which have been controlling operations of the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on August 15. 

In a lightning sweep across the war-ravaged country, the Taliban took over the presidential palace in Afghanistan on Sunday, 15 August, ousting the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government.

People in Afghanistan have been rushing to leave the country after the Taliban seized control last week. Several countries have been urgently evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation. 

The Kabul airport has been witnessing a chaotic situation due to a growing rush among the locals to flee the country fearing the return of the barbaric Taliban regime. 

The MEA has said the Narendra Modi government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan. The MEA said that the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport.