New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security this evening, to to assess the situation in war-torn Afghanistan. The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
It is understood that Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Afghanistan Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon — who was evacuated from Kabul this morning — were also present at the meeting.
According to sources, the Cabinet Committee on Security was briefed in detail on the current and evolving security and political situation in Afghanistan and the recent evacuations.
The Prime Minister asked the officials to undertake all necessary measures to ensure safe evacuation of Indian nationals from Afghanistan in the coming days.
According to a senior official privy to the proceedings, the Prime Minister said, “India must not only protect our citizens, but we must also provide refuge to those Sikh and Hindu minorities who want to come to India, and we must also provide all possible help to our Afghan brothers and sisters who are looking towards India for assistance”.
India has evacuated its staffers from the embassy in Kabul, which fell to Taliban on Sunday. The embassy personnel, including the Indo-Tibetan Border Police on security duty, have been flown back on two Air Force planes — the second one took off this morning, sources have said.
The Prime Minister has been constantly in touch with officials regarding the situation, sources said. He was taking stock of situation till late in the evening yesterday and was updated when the flight took off.
He instructed that adequate arrangements be made to ensure providing food for all those who returned at Jamnagar.
