Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
The Vice President of the UN-recognised Afghanistan government, Amrullah Saleh asserted his claim to Afghan Presidency on Tuesday. Saleh, the Ex-top spy and son of ‘Lion of Panjshir’ Ahmed Shah Masood said that as per the constitution of Afghanistan, in absence, escape, resignation or death of the President the Vice President becomes the caretaker President. “I am currently inside my country and I am the legitimate care taker President. (sic) I am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support and consensus,” he said.
At the same time, Taliban deputy leader and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returned to Kabul in Afghanistan on Tuesday late evening.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on evolving situation in Afghanistan at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence, which had Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in attendance as well as foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, who was evacuated from Kabul earlier in the day, is reported to have been briefing the high-level meeting.
Earlier it was reported, the PM has been constantly in touch with officials o the situation. “He was taking stock of the situation till late in the night on Monday and was updated when the flight (with staff of the Indian embassy in Kabul) took off. He has also instructed that adequate arrangements be made to ensure food for all those who returned at Jamnagar,” a source was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, India on Tuesday brought back home the Indian ambassador and its staff at the embassy in Kabul in a military transport aircraft in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital, two days after its take over by the Taliban.
The C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at Jamnagar in Gujarat at around 11:15 am en route to the Hindon airbase near the national capital. Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon told media persons in Jamnagar that the situation in Kabul is complex and “quite fluid” now and that Indians stuck in the city will be brought back home when the commercial flight services resume.
“Happy to be back home safely and securely. We are a very large mission. We are a mission of 192 personnel who were evacuated from Afghanistan literally within a period of three days in a very orderly fashion in two phases,” he said.
Here are the Latest Updates from Afghanistan Crisis:
– External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar took to Twitter and said that the movement of Indian Ambassador and the Embassy staff from Kabul to India was a difficult and complicated exercise. “Thank all those whose cooperation and facilitation made it possible,” Jaishankar added. The External Affairs Minister (EAM) also thanked his French counterpart for evacuating 21 Indian nationals from France to Paris.
