Watch: Indians On Evacuation Flight From Afghanistan Celebrate, Shout 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'

An Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft arrived at Hindan air base in Ghaziabad with 168 passengers including some eminent Afghan leaders from Hindu and Sikh communities, on Sunday (22 August) morning, the officials said.

The officials also confirmed that 107 Indians have been brought back through this evacuation.

Apprehending that the Taliban militia may prevent the Afghan public representatives from taking the IAF flight, the entire plan was kept secret till the flight took off from Afghanistan.

A video has gone viral on social media where the evacuated people aboard the flight can be seen celebrating and shouting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. The passengers were in happy state of mind after they safely came home.

A passenger coming from Kabul, Hari Thapa said that the sense of fear looms across Afghanistan after the Taliban toppled the government there. "However, we didn't face much trouble as I was staying in a hotel in Kabul and somehow managed to reach the Kabul airport", he said.

Recounting his horrific experience in Kabul, Hari continued saying that there is a chaos like situation prevailing at the airport. "Everyone is in a hurry to leave Afghanistan in any way possible."

This was the second evacuation made by the Indian authorities to bring back the stranded Indian and Afghan nationals who wanted to come to India after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.

The first air rescue operation was made on 17 August, when an IAF C-17 aircraft brought back 120 Indians, including Indian Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, the last batch of the Indian embassy staff, ITBP personnel from the Kabul airport amidst the critical situation in Afghanistan.

With IANS Inputs