Apart from the 107 Indians there were 24 Afghan Sikhs and two Afghan senators among the 168 passengers on board the Indian Air Force transport aircraft that landed safely at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad near Delhi on Sunday.
ANI visuals also showed two infants among the families that were safely evacuated.
A few hours before the Air Force flight landed, three others – operated by Air India, IndiGo and Vistara also brought back Indian national who had been first taken to Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Doha in Qatar on military planes from Kabul. All evacuees will have to go through RT-PCR test to check for Covid-19.
India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its citizens and those of other countries stranded in Afghanistan, a senior official confirmed.
Several of the 168 people flown back by the Air Force today were among 150 picked up by the Taliban on Saturday for questioning but later released. Government sources later clarified the group had been taken for routine questioning and checking of travel documents ahead of their evacuation.
ANI visuals also showed an infant among those safely evacuated. An Afghan woman refugee said, "the situation was deteriorating in Afghanistan, so I came here with my daughter and two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers and sisters came to our rescue. They (the Taliban) burnt down my house. I thank India for helping us," the unidentified woman said.
