Indian Air Force aircraft brings back 168 people from Kabul

NEW DELHI: AUGUST 22 – Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft C-17 Sunday brought back 168 people evacuated from Afghanistan, Indian foreign ministry officials said Monday.

Of the 168 passengers, 107 are Indian nationals.

“Evacuation continues!” writes foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on social media. “IAF special repatriation flight with 168 passengers onboard, including 107 Indian nationals, is on its way to Delhi from Kabul.”

The C-17 landed at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad of the Uttar Pradesh state.

Local media reports said the passengers on the IAF repatriation flight were not immediately allowed to leave the aircraft.

“Passengers will first undergo the COVID-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test,” a local media report said.

Reports said three other flights – Air India, IndiGo and Vistara, also carrying Indians evacuated from Kabul, landed in Delhi from Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe and Qatar’s Doha earlier in the day.

On Saturday morning a special flight from IAF evacuated over 85 Indian nationals from Kabul. The aircraft had landed in Tajikistan for refuelling.

Officials said the Indian government was working closely with the United States, whose forces control interior sections of the Kabul airport, to facilitate the return of its stranded citizens.