The Unfolding Afghan Crisis
All hell broke loose when the Taliban walked into Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on 15th August 2021. The past 9 days saw horror unfolding, one little step at a time. With the USA deciding to pull out its troops, it was a simple cakewalk for the Talibani forces to usurp the power and administration that they have long been waiting for.
What followed was chaos and the greatest uncertainty that the nation has witnessed in the past 20 years. Social media was abuzz with visuals from streets of major cities like Kabul and Kandahar, and disheartening scenes from Kabul International Airport where hapless Afghan citizens were trying to find space on different civil and military aircraft to leave the country. India’s first repatriation flight brought back the Indian envoy and this afternoon, another flight arrived in New Delhi from the worn-torn nation carrying 78 people, including 44 Afghan Sikhs along with three copies of the Sikh scripture.
As of Monday night, India has successfully evacuated 730 people since the rise of the Taliban 9 days ago. As per reports, there are over 200 Sikhs and Hindus, who are Afghan nationals, waiting to be evacuated. India, along with other friendly countries has been successfully carrying out an evacuation of its own national and even Afghan citizens who wish to reach the Indian soil to save themselves from Taliban brutality.
With the rising anti-Taliban Afghan forces in the Panjshir Valley to a secret meeting of the CIA director with the Taliban in what is said to be the first one-on-one encounter between these mortal enemies– the war in Afghanistan is raging. How this impacts the country, its citizens and the region is yet to be seen.