New Delhi,27th August 2021: The Foreign Ministry has once again indicated that it may open the window of dialogue with the Taliban after the formation of the government in Afghanistan. However, a decision in this regard will be taken only after a thorough review of the situation and issues related to national security at the center. The answer given by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla to the questions of various political parties in the all-party meeting on the situation in Afghanistan on Thursday is the same. Talking to the media after the meeting, Jaishankar said that in the situation that is being created in Afghanistan, India will take any policy only keeping the spirit of national unity at the center. However, he also said that there is instability right now and one should wait for the situation to stabilize.

37 representatives of 31 parties participated in this all-party meeting briefed External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla about the steps to be taken to protect India’s interests in Afghanistan. Jaishankar stressed that the situation in Afghanistan is very serious right now. The government is committed to get every citizen out of there.

 External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said “ India is in touch with other friendly nations regarding Afghanistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is talking to the heads of other countries.We all (political parties) have common national views on this important matter.We will go ahead with this in the spirit of national unity.”

 When asked whether the  MEA will talk to the Taliban? and did the Indian government  have a  meeting with the Taliban in Doha? The MEA said that they will decide after seeing the situation, and MEA also denied the latter statement.

It was told by the Ministry of External Affairs that India has so far evacuated a total of 563 people from Kabul. These include 175 people working in Indian missions, 263 other Indians, 112 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and 15 citizens of other countries. Some other agencies have also evacuated Indians from there, in which the Indian government is helping. A 24-hour surveillance system has been put in place for speedy decision-making on visa applications coming from Afghanistan and for the evacuation of stranded people.

Jaishankar said, we have taken out most of the Indians from there. Some people have also been brought to India on Wednesday. Those who are left will also be thrown out. Congress leaders wanted to know how many Indians are still left in Afghanistan, so the Ministry of External Affairs could not clearly give information.

Foreign Ministry sources informed that in the meeting with political parties, a presentation was given by Foreign Secretary Shringla, in which detailed information was given about the situation in Afghanistan after May 2021. It has been said that it has become very difficult to evacuate people from there. Firing is taking place outside and inside Kabul airport. It has become difficult for anyone to reach the airport, because barricades have been put in place. Getting permission to land and take off planes is also not easy. It is possible to fly from Afghanistan only after there is reconciliation between many countries, because the necessary approvals have to be taken from other countries for flights at night.