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Another 200 Indian nationals come home from Kabul via Dushanbe and Doha

Two flights carrying over 200 Indian nationals evacuated from Kabul landed in Delhi from Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe and Qatar's Doha this morning.

In a series of tweets, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, said 87 Indians were first flown on an Indian Air Force plane from Kabul to Dushanbe from where they boarded an Air India flight to New Delhi. He said more flights will follow from Kabul to bring back home Indian nationals stranded in Kabul.

Two persons from Nepal were also evacuated with the Indians as the friendly country had requested for help for the evacuation of its citizens.

Also Read: IAF aircraft ready to fly back over 400 Indians still stranded in Afghanistan

An IndiGo flight from Doha brought another batch 135 Indian nationals evacuated from Kabul to Delhi on this number. The Indian embassy in Qatar said 135 Indians, who were evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days, are being sent to India.

"First batch of 135 Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Doha over past days being repatriated tonight to India," the embassy said in a tweet after mid-night.

It said embassy officials provided consular and logistics assistance to ensure the safe return of the Indians. These individuals are reported to have been working with foreign companies and were evacuated to Doha on board US military planes.

"We thank Qatar authorities and all concerned for making this possible," it added.

Another 100 Indians are likely to be brought back to India from Kabul in an Indian Air Force heavy-lift aircraft on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, as many as 150 people, mainly Indian nationals, were picked up by the Taliban from outside the Kabul airport but are now reported to be safe.

Reacting to the reports, government sources in Delhi said all Indian nationals are safe. The authorities are in touch with them and talks are on to get them released.

Also Read: Committed to the Afghan people, India starts online e-visas

Many Afghan journalists claimed that over 100-150 Indians were kidnapped by the Taliban from outside the Kabul airport. Minutes after these reports surfaced on social media, local journalists claimed that all the Indians were safe and will be moved back to the Kabul airport. They said the Indians were rounded up by the Taliban and taken somewhere for checks.

A report in the Kabul Now online news portal quoting 'reliable sources' confirmed the development that 150 people mainly Indian nationals had been picked up by the Taliban.

The source, who managed to escape with his wife and a few others, said that some of the abducted people included Afghan nationals and Afghan Sikhs, but most of them were Indian nationals.

He said they were all in eight minivan vehicles at around 01:00 this morning, which were on their way to Kabul airport to exit the country, but they could not enter the airport due to lack of US military cooperation.

According to the source, "a group of Taliban who were not armed approached them and then after physically beating them all and took them to Tarakhil, an eastern neighbourhood of the capital Kabul."

However, Ahmadullah Waseq, one of the Taliban spokespersons, has rejected reports of the abduction of around 150 Indian citizens from Kabul. He said members of the group were present around Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and would not allow people to enter the airport, local media reported.