NEW DELHI: Describing the security situation in Afghanistan as critical, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday told an all party meeting of floor leaders in Parliament here that India is adopting a wait-and-watch approach in dealing with the Taliban.
The priority now is full evacuation of Indian nationals.
The long-term interest is in retaining robust friendship with the Afghans, Jaishankar told the meeting attended by 37 leaders from 31 political parties.
"Let the situation settle. You will have to keep patience on the question of our future policy," he said when asked about the government's approach towards the Taliban.
The leaders were first briefed by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla. Jaishankar then took questions.
Responding to one of the 26 questions, Jaishankar admitted that the Doha process for a smooth transfer of power had not fructified.
He also said there was no clarity on when US forces would be withdrawn completely from Kabul. Fielding questions on the government’s Taliban policy, he said: “It would be foolhardy to take a policy call on Kabul. India should avoid the path where events force it to take a decision and that too without assimilating the facts.”
He also refuted allegations that India had been isolated on the global stage, saying leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, Saudi Arabian State Foreign Minister Adel Aljubeir have all been in touch with New Delhi.
Also, India chaired a special session at the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan two days after the Taliban seized power. India has so far evacuated 565 people from Afghanistan.
Besides Jaishankar, Union minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were also present during the nearly three and a half hour briefing on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
Senior officials of the external affairs ministry, including Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla also participated in the meeting.
As per the evacuation data shared among the participants at the meet, the government has evacuated --175 Embassy Personnel, 263 other Indian Nationals, 112 Afghan Nationals including Hindus and Sikhs, 15 third country nationals and the total figure stood at 565.
The document further said the government also facilitated the evacuation of Indians by other agencies.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK's T R Baalu, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel were among those who attended the meet.
"We have a strong national position on Afghanistan. The friendship with the Afghan people is something which matters to all of us. So we (all parties) approached this situation very much in a spirit of national unity," he told reporters.
Under Operation 'Devi Shakti', the government has undertaken six flights and brought back most of the Indians but not all of them, he said, noting that a few Indians are still there.
"Some of them could not make the flight yesterday. But definitely we will try and bring everybody. We have also brought out some Afghan citizens who wanted to come to India at this point of time. We have tried to address many of the other issues by instituting an E-visa policy. So the overall sense was that the government is very very strongly committed to ensuring the full evacuation as soon as possible," he said.
With the situation in Afghanistan fluid, he said there will be a lot of activity on this front but at the moment India's "focus is on evacuation and the government is doing everything to ensure that we bring back our people".
On the all-party meet, he tweeted "briefed the floor leaders of all political parties today on Afghanistan and 37 leaders from 31 parties attended. Thank them all."
He said India's strong friendship with the people of Afghanistan is reflected in the more than 500 projects it has there and that the friendship will continue to guide New Delhi.
Jaishankar said India's footprint and activities naturally keep in mind the ongoing change.
"We have undertaken evacuation operations in extremely difficult conditions especially at the airport.
Our immediate concern and task is evacuation and long term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people," the minister tweeted after the meeting.
Sources said Jaishankar apprised the floor leaders about the pre-emptive measures taken by India including the temporary withdrawal of Indian personnel from its consulates in Herat and Jalalabad in April last year, scaling down of the strength of the embassy in Kabul in June this year.
Last year in February, Taliban leaders and the US inked a pact in Doha in February 2020 which envisaged religious freedom and democracy, with a government in Kabul that represented all sections of Afghan society after the withdrawal of American troops.
Jaishankar also cited the evacuation of Indian staff from the Indian consulates in Kandahar on July 10-11 and from Mazar-e-Sharif on August 10-11, besides mentioning a series of security advisories issued between June 29 and August 12, urging Indian nationals to leave the country immediately.
The external affairs minister said India's priorities following the recent developments included the evacuation of Indian nationals, ensuring the safety of its diplomatic staff, extending assistance to Afghan nationals in distress and providing some leadership as part of the 'Neighbourhood-First' policy, the sources said.
It is learnt that Shringla also briefed the leaders and referred to preemptive measures undertaken by India.
Referring to attacks on Indian diplomatic premises in Afghanistan, Shringla specifically mentioned attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as well as the massive blast near it in 2017.
Shringla said the Indian Consulates in Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif have been attacked from time to time.
About the evacuation mission, the foreign secretary is believed to have said that a multi-agency team of the government of India personnel at the Kabul Airport coordinated with NATO and the US for landing permissions and access to the airport.
Jaishankar said India's other priorities in view of the situation in Afghanistan included international coordination and humanitarian efforts.
India's diplomacy and interests are recognised by other countries and the government is in touch with many partners, Jaishankar told reporters.
The external affairs minister referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and said there will be many more communications in the coming days.
He also referred to India chairing the UN Security Council special Session on Afghanistan and the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Referring to challenges faced while evacuating people from Kabul, Jaishankar cited frequent incidents of firing near the airport and inside Kabul, putting up multiple checkpoints by various groups and certain issues at the airport, sources said.
Delays in landing permissions for aircraft, overflight clearances from relevant countries and coordination on the ground were some other challenges flagged by the external affairs minister, they said.
Listing immediate measures, Jaishankar said a 24X7 special Afghanistan Cell was established in the Ministry of External Affairs to coordinate repatriation and other requests from that country in a streamlined manner, the sources said.
According to sources, manned by more than 20 MEA officials, the Afghanistan evacuation cell has received 3,014 phone calls, responded to 7,826 Whatsapp messages and answered 3,101 Emails.
During the meeting, opposition members raised the issue of evacuation, including helping Afghanistani citizens, the government's approach towards the Taliban and the security implications for India after Kabul fell to the hardcore Islamist group.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge noted that Jaishankar replied to all issues raised by them but added that much will depend on how the government acts in the coming days.
Kharge told reporters that he also raised the issue of the deportation of a woman member of the Afghan parliament from Delhi, and claimed that the government "regretted" the development.
According to reports, Rangina Kargar, the MP, was deported from New Delhi airport on August 20, days after the Taliban captured Kabul.
TMC's Saugata Roy said his party's main concern was about evacuation of Indians.
The party supported the government in the decisions taken on the issues relating to the situation in Afghanistan and handed over a list of 125 people from West Bengal who are stranded in that country, Roy added.
"The government said that it was in touch with other foreign countries like the US, UK, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Quatar and Central Asian countries. They also informed us that they have posted officials from the Embassy at the Afghan airport to facilitate evacuation," he told reporters.
Roy also said that as far as engaging with the Taliban is concerned the government said that like other countries, India too have opted to "wait and watch" as the situation was "changing everyday" and was "fluid".
TRS' Nama Nageswara Rao and National Conference's Hasnain Masoodi raised the issue of security implications of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.
With almost all parties seeking clarification and Jaishankar responding to each of them, RSP's N K Premchandaran said it was satisfactory that the external affairs minister replied to each of them.
(With PTI Inputs)
Current priorities
Evacuation of Indian nationals, safety of our diplomatic personnel.
Assistance to Afghan nationals in distress.
Providing leadership -Neighbourhood First.
International coordination and humanitarian efforts.
Evacuation stats
Embassy personnel: 175.
Other Indian nationals: 263.