India stands by Afghans, closely monitoring situation in Afghanistan

New Delhi : India on Monday said that it stands by Afghans who have been its partners in developing the nation and will provide all possible help to facilitate their travel out of the war-torn Afghanistan, along with Indian members of the Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities.

India's Foreign Ministry released a statement that they are closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan.

"The Government will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals and our interests in Afghanistan," it said.

Speaking about how security situation has deteriorated in Afghanistan is past few days, the Ministry mentioned that they are aware of some Indian nationals in the country who wish to return; the statement added that “We are aware that there are still some Indian nationals in Afghanistan who wish to return and we are in touch with them."

“We are in constant touch with the representatives of Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities. We will facilitate repatriation to India of those who wish to leave Afghanistan. There are also a number of Afghans who have been our partners in the promotion of our mutual developmental, educational and people to people endeavours. We will stand by them," the Indian statement said.

On Sunday an Indian aircraft brought back 129 passengers, a majority of whom were Afghans.

The statement noted that commercial flight operations from Kabul airport had been suspended on Monday forcing a “pause in our repatriation efforts." 

“We are awaiting the resumption of flights to restart the process," it added.

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