Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Escorted by Taliban, India pulls off midnight evacuation from Afghanistan

Escorted by Taliban, India pulls off midnight evacuation from Afghanistan

OUTSIDE the main iron gate of the Indian embassy in Kabul, a group of Taliban fighters waited - armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Inside the compound were 150 Indian diplomats and nationals - growing increasingly nervous as they watched news of the Taliban tightening their grip on the capital, which they took a day earlier without a fight.


Their position was a precarious one.

Pakistan has long been the Taliban's biggest supporter, using the country for so-called strategic depth in never-ending battles - real and diplomatic - with arch-rival India.

India in turn, strongly backed the government that took over when the Taliban were ousted, earning them hatred and enmity from the hardline Islamist group.

But the Taliban fighters outside the Indian embassy weren't there to extract revenge, but rather to escort them to Kabul airport, where a military aircraft was on standby to evacuate them after New Delhi decided to shut its mission.

As the first of nearly two dozen vehicles drove out of the embassy late on Monday (16), some of the fighters waved and smiled at the passengers - an AFP correspondent among them.

One guided them towards the street leading out of the city's green zone and on the main road to the airport.

The embassy's decision to ask the Taliban to shepherd the Indians out was made when the fighters closed access to the once heavily fortified neighbourhood after capturing Kabul the previous day.

A quarter of the 200 or so people who had gathered at the foreign mission had already been flown out of Afghanistan before the country's new leaders took full control of the city.

"When we were evacuating the second group... we faced the Taliban, who refused to allow us to exit the green zone," said an official who left with Monday's group.

"We then decided to contact the Taliban and ask them to escort our convoy out."

Two separate pledges of an escort failed to materialise during the day, unnerving the large group bunkered down at the embassy, with one diplomat likening the experience to "house arrest".

It had been dark for several hours when the cars finally left the compound and embarked on the five-kilometre (three-mile) journey to the airport.

The snail-paced journey took five hours, with passengers passing each minute in constant fear of a potential attack.

'I immediately knew it was time to leave'

Unfamiliar checkpoints had been set up and thousands of people displaced by the war were along the road.

At intervals, the Taliban fighters accompanying the Indian convoy jumped out of their own vehicles and aimed their guns at the crowds, forcing them to step back.

One man who appeared to be commanding the troops fired a few rounds in the air to scare back a large group gathered around one intersection.

The escort departed once the convoy reached the airport, where American soldiers had taken up positions and were coordinating flights.

After a wait of another two hours, the group boarded a C-17 Indian military transport plane that took off at dawn, landing at an air force base in the west Indian state of Gujarat later that morning.

"I'm so happy to be back," Shirin Pathare, an Air India employee flown out of Kabul, told AFP as he stepped off the aircraft. "India is paradise."

Another Indian citizen, cradling his two-year-old daughter, recalled the chaos and anxiety of his hasty departure from his office and the city.

"Just hours before I took the flight a group of Taliban visited my workplace," said the man, declining to give AFP his name.

"They were polite but when they went, they took two of our vehicles.

"I immediately knew it was time for me and my family to leave," he added.

(AFP)

More For You

Nepal’s new leader pledges to act on Gen Z calls to end corruption

Officials greet newly-elected Prime Minister of Nepal's interim government Sushila Karki (R) as she arrives at the prime minister's office in Kathmandu on September 14, 2025. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Nepal’s new leader pledges to act on Gen Z calls to end corruption

NEPAL’s new interim prime minister Sushila Karki on Sunday (14) pledged to act on protesters’ calls to end corruption and restore trust in government, as the country struggles with the aftermath of its worst political unrest in decades.

“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation,” Karki said in her first address to the nation since taking office on Friday (12). “What this group is demanding is the end of corruption, good governance and economic equality. We will not stay here more than six months in any situation. We will complete our responsibilities and hand over to the next parliament and ministers.”

Keep ReadingShow less
UK secures £1.25bn US investment ahead of Trump’s visit

US president Donald Trump and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer arrive at Trump International Golf Links on July 28, 2025 in Balmedie, Scotland. (Photo by Jane Barlow-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

UK secures £1.25bn US investment ahead of Trump’s visit

THE British government has announced over £1.25 billion ($1.69bn) in fresh investment from major US financial firms, including PayPal, Bank of America, Citigroup and S&P Global, ahead of a state visit by president Donald Trump.

The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs across London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester, and deepen transatlantic financial ties, the Department for Business and Trade said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nearly 150,000 join anti-migrant protest in London as clashes erupt

Protesters wave Union Jack and St George's England flags during the "Unite The Kingdom" rally on Westminster Bridge by the Houses of Parliament on September 13, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Nearly 150,000 join anti-migrant protest in London as clashes erupt

MORE THAN 100,000 protesters marched through central London on Saturday (13), carrying flags of England and Britain and scuffling with police in one of the UK's biggest right-wing demonstrations of modern times.

London's Metropolitan Police said the "Unite the Kingdom" march, organised by anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson, was attended by nearly 150,000 people, who were kept apart from a "Stand Up to Racism" counter-protest attended by around 5,000.

Keep ReadingShow less
Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal recalled that in February, Narendra Modi and Donald Trump had instructed their trade ministers to conclude the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by November 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Trade talks with US moving forward positively, says Indian minister Goyal

INDIA’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that negotiations on the proposed trade agreement between India and the United States, which began in March, are progressing in a positive atmosphere and both sides are satisfied with the discussions.

He recalled that in February, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and US president Donald Trump had instructed their trade ministers to conclude the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by November 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less
West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police said they were called just before 08:30 BST on Tuesday, September 9, after the woman reported being attacked by two men near Tame Road. (Representational image: iStock)

Woman raped in racially aggravated attack in Oldbury

A WOMAN in her 20s was raped in Oldbury in what police are treating as a racially aggravated attack.

West Midlands Police said they were called just before 08:30 BST on Tuesday, September 9, after the woman reported being attacked by two men near Tame Road. Officers said the men made a racist remark during the incident.

Keep ReadingShow less