Monthly Archives: August 2018

Will reach India by Monday night, say sources

Sri Guru Granth Sahib being taken out of Afghanistan. Photo via Tribune

New Delhi, August 23

Sri Guru Granth Sahib and 46 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs and several Indian passport holders are expected to arrive in India on Monday amid growing tension in Afghanistan.

Sources said the stranded Indian nationals and 46 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs, with Sri Guru Granth Sahib, are currently inside the Hamid Karzai International Airport at Kabul and will reach India by Monday night. They are being escorted to the Indian Air Force aircraft.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “3 Sri Guru Granth Sahib and 46 Indian passport holders will arrive in India today. We thank GoI & PM Modi for helping Hindus-Sikhs in Afghanistan. We’re in touch with minorities in Kabul who wish to be evacuated.”
In a separate development, one more private plane carrying Indian nationals landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday morning. However, out of a total of 30 persons who have been evacuated from Kabul via Qatar, two have tested positive for Covid.

“Two persons out of 146 people who have returned to India from Afghanistan today have tested positive for Covid,” said Rajinder Kumar, Nodal Officer (Delhi govt) for Covid testing of Afghanistan returnees. IANS

Anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commanders gather in Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan. Reuters

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

As the Taliban began amassing fighters around the defiant Panjshir Valley, Ahmad Massoud, the son of the legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, said he was hoping for negotiations but was ready for war.

Boost for Resistance 2

Social media shows helicopters reported to have been brought into Panjshir Valley from nearby Tajikistan

People are united

The people of Panjshir Valley are united. They want to defend, to fight, to resist against any totalitarian regime — Ahmad Massoud, Panjshir Leader

Amid reports of fighting in the neighbouring Baghlan with conflicting claims and counter-claims, Panjshir was calm and preparing for the worst.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his forces had retaken Deh Salah and Pul-e-Hesar districts from Resistance 2 in the Baghlan province, next to Panjshir. Social media showed helicopters reported to have been brought into Panjshir from nearby Tajikistan. This would be a major boost to Resistance2 fighters, but Collective Security Treaty Organisation secretary-general Stanislav Zas said he had no information when asked if there was an air corridor between Panjshir and Tajikistan for delivering arms to the only Afghan province that has remained outside Taliban control.

Afghanistan’s first Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, who is in the Valley with Massoud, claimed his forces had blocked the vital Salang highway, but the Taliban said it was under their control. Saleh too acknowledged that the Taliban had massed forces near the entrance to Panjshir.

Addressing questions on the unity of politicians of the Panjshir Valley, Massoud replied: “The people of are very much united. They want to defend, to fight, to resist against any totalitarian regime.” However, many Afghans on social media said they were weary of war and the warring parties should negotiate.

The Massoud-Saleh duo was joined by Yar Mohammad Dostum, the son of Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has fled to Turkey after initial bravado against the Taliban at Mazar-e-Sharif. More important, the Dostums are understood to have flown some Mi-35 helicopters and A-29 aircraft to the neighbouring Uzbekistan for safekeeping. 

70, including Indians, Afghanistan Sikhs & Hindus, flown to Dushanbe

Afghan refugees protest outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi. Mukesh Aggarwal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Even as India evacuated 146 of its nationals in four different flights from Qatar’s capital Doha on Monday, the Union Government called an all-party meeting on Thursday on the developments in Afghanistan.

Edit: Prioritise evacuation

Afghan soldier dies in airport firefight

• An Afghan soldier was killed in a firefight outside Kabul airport on Monday as Taliban moved to quell resistance.

Music killed in Af: Student’s message

• “Music killed in Afghanistan!” This message was sent by an Af student to a noted sitar player in India. INSIDE

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would brief the floor leaders of political parties on the present situation in Afghanistan in the in-person meeting. The government’s briefing is expected to focus on its evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the situation in the war-torn country. Those evacuated today were earlier airlifted from Afghanistan by NATO and US aircraft. This was the second batch of Indians to be brought back from Doha after their evacuation from Kabul. At least 104 people were brought back in a Vistara flight, 30 by a Qatar Airways flight and 11 by an Indigo flight. One person returned by an Air India flight, sources said.

Chaos continued to prevail at Kabul airport in the backdrop of increasing Taliban hostility. A firefight just outside the airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early this morning, German officials said.

Over 37,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul in the last eight days, but that still leaves behind several fearful minorities, including over 250 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who have taken shelter at Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul. Their leaders, including two lawmakers, have reached India along with their relatives.

Ahead of a G-7 virtual meeting on Tuesday, the Taliban warned against extending the complete pullout of foreign forces by August 31, which is being pushed by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Faced with a financial crunch and a falling currency, the Taliban appointed an acting director general of the country’s central bank — Da Afghanistan Bank — after the IMF disbursed $650 billion in Covid aid to all countries on Monday, barring the war-torn nation.

Though several Taliban leaders were in Kabul and held dialogues with members of the former ruling regime, there was no indication about the government formation.

The three chiefs reviewed the ongoing training of cadets and the available training and administrative infrastructure of the NDA

The three chiefs of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force visited their alma mater the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla. Source: Screenshot/Instagram/@ indianarmy.adgpi.

Pune, August 21

The three chiefs of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force visited their alma mater the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla here in Maharashtra and reviewed the available training and administrative infrastructure, a defence release said on Saturday.

The two-day visit (August 20 and 21) of Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, Chief of the Air Staff, and General MM Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff, marks a “historical moment” for this prestigious tri-Service training academy as all three service chiefs are course-mates from the 56th course of the NDA, which is rare and unique, it said.

Earlier, it was only in 1991 that all three service chiefs were course-mates from the first NDA (erstwhile Joint Services Wing) course.

“The very idea and thought of them visiting their alma-mater together not only reaffirms the eternity of the bonds of camaraderie imbibed in the academy, but also signifies the spirit of ‘jointmanship’ which this tri-service training institution stands for,” the release read.

Speaking on behalf of the three chiefs on this occasion, Admiral Singh dwelled upon the emerging trends of modern warfare, it said.

He also exhorted the cadets to imbibe the basic tenets of modern military leadership.

The three chiefs reviewed the ongoing training of cadets and the available training and administrative infrastructure of the NDA.

During their visit, the chiefs paid homage at the ‘Hut of Remembrance’, which commemorates the sacrifice of ex-NDA officers of the Armed Forces who laid down their lives in the line of duty. The service chiefs also visited their parent squadrons ‘Hunter’ (Naval Chief) & ‘Lima’ (Army & Air Chiefs), and interacted with the cadets of the respective squadrons, according to the release.

Notably, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed eligible women to take the examination for admission to the NDA, scheduled to be held on September 5.

The top court, however, said that the women candidates can take the examination subject to further orders of the court. — PTI

Lessons many forget at their own peril from the battle of Maiwand, midway on the road from Kandahar to Herat, fought on July 27, 1880

Photo for representational purpose only.

Lt Gen Baljit Singh (Retd)

Today, as most of us are submerged under a flood of texts and images of the lightning blitzkrieg by the Afghan warlords, my mind flashes to the battle of Maiwand, midway on the road from Kandahar to Herat, on July 27, 1880. What began as a show of force, or “Flag March” in common parlance, led to an unintended and unanticipated “Meeting Engagement” between Ayub Khan, the warlord of Herat, and Brigadier George Burrow of the British South Afghanistan Field Force. While Ayub Khan had the advantage of intimate knowledge of the contours of the battlefield, Brigadier Burrow, a seasoned professional, had no option but to drop anchor, as it were, where he happened to be.

The combat elements of Burrow’s brigade, namely the 66th Regiment of Foot, the 1st Bombay Native Infantry (Grenadiers), the 30th Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob’s Rifles), the 3rd (Queen’s Own) Bombay Light Cavalry, 3rd Sind Horse and two Batteries of Royal Horse Artillery, all boasted of distinguished battlefield heritage. Taken together, they “made up a fighting strength of 1,800 bayonets, 550 sabres and 12 pieces of Artillery”. Here again, Ayub Khan had the upper hand with highly fired up “6,000 regular Infantry, cavalry element equivalent of six regular regiments and 36 Artillery guns”.

The mission expressly given to Burrow was: “… you have full liberty to attack Ayub, if you consider you are strong enough to do so… is of greatest political importance that his force should be dispersed and prevented by all possible means from passing on to Ghazni”; the latter part necessitated because Lt Gen Sir Fredrick Roberts, VC (later Commander in Chief, Indian Army), who had surrounded Kabul, was yet to bring its regime to surrender.

However, as in the game of chess, Ayub Khan had the advantage of the first mover and deftly manoeuvred his force for the kill, yet mindful of Burrow’s Artillery reach while creating a horseshoe formation around his beleaguered foe. Burrow was desperate for time for the Infantry to dig minimal trenches under the scorching heat, reconnoitre for a source of drinking water and attempt for Artillery ammunition replenishments.

As Ayub squeezed the horseshoe into a circle, Burrow was left with no option but to commence the battle by Artillery concentrations at 1130 hours and as may be imagined, Ayub countered with multiple intrusions from flanks and frontally and kept raising the tempo such that by 1330 hours, Burrow had exhausted all Artillery ammunition and on-person, drinking water. Despite every tactical stratagem of Burrow, by 1500 hours, the battle “was a physical impossibility. What with the fatigue of three hours’ march, added to over four hours’ march in the morning… exposure to heavy fire under a blazing sun… the men had stood fighting without food or water, it was utterly beyond human energy to run, mobbed as they were by hundreds of the enemy…”

And for the first and only time in the history of the British Army in India, a message was sent to GHQ, Simla, by Lt Gen Sir Donald Stewart from Kandahar: “Total defeat and dispersion of Brigadier Burrow’s force. Heavy loss in both officers and men.”

The figures were staggering; to Burrow’s 962 dead and 177 wounded, Ayub’s dead were 2,750 and 1,500 wounded. In addition, the camp followers (horse holders, grass cutters, bishtis, etc) by some counts were at least 1,500 dead and as many wounded. The logistical animal-train (camels, donkeys and ponies) fared no better.

Yet there were moments of great valour and extraordinary camaraderie as revealed by the severely wounded Surgeon-Major Preston of the 66th Regiment “…I had been lying on the ground for sometime… Captain Slade, Royal Artillery, at once determined to save my life… he abandoned the gun, and had me put on the limber… there was heavy firing from the village… it was at this stage that Gunner Collis won the Victoria Cross by running out towards the snipers to draw their fire on himself”. Incidentally, in time, Surgeon Preston would be none other than Sherlock Holmes’ Dr Watson!

And there is a tender episode from Maiwand connected with a young Afghan who on noticing “Afghan soldiers falter, used her veil as a standard and encouraged the men by shouting:

‘Young love if you do not fall in battle of Maiwand,

By God! Someone is saving you as a token of shame.’”

And the echo of that exhortation in the region of the lofty Hindu Kush mountains is not lost on the warlords to this day!

Officers among several critical due to exhaustion

Photo for representational purpose only. File photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 21

An Army jawan died while several others are in a critical condition after more than 30 soldiers collapsed due to heat and exhaustion during routine training at Mamun military station near Pathankot today.

The incident took place during a 10-km endurance run while carrying weapons and battle load as part of a recce troop competition being organised by the 9 Corps in the morning, when the weather was hot and humid.

Treatment under way

Due to severe weather conditions, there has been one fatal casualty and a few individuals admitted to the Military Hospital, Pathankot. The affected persons are being closely monitored. —Western command officer

“In an organised, supervised and monitored training activity near Pathankot, due to severe weather conditions, there has been one fatal casualty and a few individuals admitted to the Military Hospital, Pathankot. The affected persons are being closely monitored and provided with requisite medical care,” an officer at the Western Command said.

Those admitted to the hospital included officers. The training activity was being undertaken by 11 officers, 11 junior commissioned officers and 120 other ranks.

The officials said the weather was hot and humid when the training activity was taking place

Photo for representation only. Source: iStock.

New Delhi, August 21

One Army jawan died, and a few others were injured during a supervised training activity at Mamun military station near Pathankot in Punjab on Saturday as the weather conditions were “severe”, said senior officials.

The senior Army officials said that the affected jawans have been admitted at the military hospital in Pathankot and are being provided with required medical care.

The officials said the weather was hot and humid when the training activity was taking place.

The training activity was organised, supervised and monitored in the area under the 9 Corps of the Indian Army, they said.

They said due to “severe” weather conditions, there has been one fatal casualty and a few jawans have been admitted to the hospital. — PTI

The report says the Pakistani government is concerned that a civil war in Afghanistan would have destabilising effects on Pakistan, including an influx of refugees and providing a potential safe haven for anti-Pakistan militants

An Afghan woman clad in a burqa walks in the fence, as she along with others enter Pakistan via Friendship Gate crossing point at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan. Reuters

Washington, August 21

Pakistan’s strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of the Afghan civil war into Pakistani territory, a US government report has said, citing inputs from the Defence Intelligence Agency.

“Pakistan continues to support peace talks, while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban,” US Department of State Office of the Inspector General noted in its latest quarterly report on Afghanistan.

“According to the DIA, Pakistan’s strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover into the Pakistani territory,” the report said.

The report for the quarter April 1 to June 30 said the Pakistani government is concerned that a civil war in Afghanistan would have destabilising effects on Pakistan, including an influx of refugees and providing a potential safe haven for anti-Pakistan militants.

During the quarter, financial contributions to the Afghan Taliban increased in the Pakistan border regions, according to media reports, citing eyewitness sources. Solicitation efforts traditionally targeted mosques, but Afghan Taliban militants now openly visit the bazaar areas in nearby Pakistani towns, it said.

“The militants typically solicit contributions of USD 50 or more from shopkeepers. Local residents told reporters that solicitation efforts were now commonplace in the towns and cities of Quetta, Kuchlak Bypass, Pashtun Abad, Ishaq Abad and Farooqia,” it said.

According to the report, the DIA, citing media reports, said that Iran welcomes the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from Afghanistan but “almost certainly” remains concerned about the resulting instability in Afghanistan.

According to the DIA, Iran will continue to pursue influence in any future Afghan government through relations with the Afghan government, the Taliban, and power brokers, but Iran opposes the re-establishment of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, it said.

As a resurgent Taliban continues to occupy new territory and an overtaxed Afghan National Defence Security Force is increasingly unable to provide security in certain areas, Afghan power brokers have increasingly begun raising private militias, it said, citing media reports.

“During the quarter, leaders related to the Northern Alliance spoke openly of a ‘second resistance’ to the Taliban, and some of the leaders began to mobilise anti-Taliban forces under their respective commands,” the report said.

The Northern Alliance comprised militias of primarily Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara ethnicity, while the Taliban was largely of Pashtun ethnicity. The period of direct conflict between Northern Alliance and the Taliban included significant violence, often targeting civilians because of their ethnicity.

According to the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a resumption of conflict between the Taliban and the elements, which formerly made up the Northern Alliance risks a recurrence of such violence.

In April, Ahmed Massoud – a militia commander and son of the Northern Alliance’s most prominent leader Ahmed Shah Massoud killed by al-Qaeda shortly before the attacks of September 11, 2001 – said in a media interview that his followers were prepared for the “failure of peace”.

In May, Massoud told reporters that over 100,000 militia leaders, fighters and other stakeholders in northern Afghanistan have pledged support to his anti-Taliban movement.

He said public concerns about the stagnant peace process, US withdrawal of troops and apparent Taliban gains against the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) have led to an increasing number of Afghans to take up arms and organise independently, the report noted. PTI

India has already evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in Kabul

Evacuee children wait for the next flight after being manifested at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP/PTI

New Delhi, August 21

Around 80 Indian nationals were evacuated on Saturday from Kabul by a transport military aircraft of the Indian Air Force amid a deteriorating security scenario in the Afghan capital, people familiar with the development said.

The aircraft landed at Dushanbe in Tajikistan after evacuating the Indians, they said, adding the flight is expected to arrive at the Hindon airbase near Delhi in the evening.

India has already evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in Kabul, in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on Sunday.

The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 Indians on Monday.

The second C-17 aircraft evacuated around 150 people including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and some stranded Indians on Tuesday.

The Taliban swept across Afghanistan this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities, including Kabul, in the backdrop of the withdrawal of the US forces.

The mission to evacuate close to 200 Indians was accomplished with support from the US.

Following the evacuation, the MEA said the focus now would be to ensure the safe return of all Indian nationals from the Afghan capital.

The MEA said the immediate priority for the government is to obtain accurate information about all Indian nationals currently staying in Afghanistan.

It also requested the Indians as well as their employers to urgently share the relevant details with the special Afghanistan cell.

As per a rough estimate, the number of Indians stranded in Afghanistan could be around 400 and India has been looking at ways to evacuate them, including by coordinating with the US and other friendly countries. PTI

There were Indians, Europeans and Africans besides people from Afghanistan in the plane who were leaving the strife-torn picturesque country

Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. — PTI

Kolkata, August 21

When the New Delhi-bound Kam Airlines flight finally took off from Kabul airport hours before the Taliban entered the city on August 15, Subrata, an Indian working in a senior position of an International NGO (INGO) posted in Afghanistan, sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

Subrata had been able to board the flight after travelling two hours in his car to travel the 12 km distance between his lodging and the Hamid Karzai International Airport, as the road was clogged with vehicles even early in the morning.

To top it all, his flight was stopped from taking off for over an hour almost at the edge of the runway, as US Air Force planes were landing to evacuate nationals of that country, sparking fears of imminent Taliban entry into the city.

Hours earlier, Subrata, who prefers to go by his first name, spent a tense and sleepless night planning his disguise to make it to the airport without any trouble.

“I contemplated travelling to the airport dressed as an Afghan sporting the customary long beard and turban, or a deaf and mute person. I was afraid that I might be held by the Taliban in the check posts they might have put up on the road,” he told PTI over the phone from Delhi.

Subrata even tried out his disguises before discarding each of them and deciding to travel in his normal clothes.

There were Indians, Europeans and Africans besides people from Afghanistan in the plane who were leaving the strife-torn picturesque country.

Afghan stewards of the plane, however, were sceptical about their return.

“I heard a steward whispering in Pashto: God knows how and when we will return to Kabul’,” said Subrata.

On the night before he took the flight, Subrata realised that guns alone cannot ensure security and information is the strongest defence.

“I had no information that night whether the Taliban had already entered the city. Nobody goes out in the night for fear of being attacked and killed. And there were looters.

“I left my lodging at dawn to travel the 12 km distance to the airport and reached it at around 6.15 am. The flight was scheduled to depart at 10.45 am,” Subrata, who had been posted in Afghanistan since 2015, said.

He had advanced his flight ticket to Delhi, where his family stays, after the security officer of his organisation told him that the Taliban were expected to enter Kabul soon and he should “just leave”.

Subrata had been hesitating as he, like many of his counterparts in other INGOs, was sure that Kabul will not fall before Muharram on August 20.

It turned out later that his was the second last commercial flight to leave Afghanistan for India.

“The situation in Kabul had become tense since August 13 as the Taliban had captured Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz and other provinces one by one by then. I think even the Taliban themselves did not expect that these provinces would fall so fast,” said Subrata, who has been posted in that country since 2015.

With the memory of Taliban torture during its rule two decades ago still fresh in their mind, the people of Afghanistan had been living in fear since the US peace deal with the group in Doha in February 2020.

The pact had drawn up plans for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the terrorist outfit.

Subrata said that many Afghan people – both men and women – had requested him to help them find refuge in Delhi.

“I did not want to return home before August 18 as I had reached Kabul only a week back and had a lot of work left. But the scenario was changing fast. I was told that banks had downed shutters saying they had no money left,” he said.

Rumours that fresh passports were not being issued anymore fanned the fear among the people manifold.

Subrata could not contact the Indian embassy and to add to his fears, he was told that there were blasts at Pul-e-charkhi jail in Kabul, which is the largest prison in Afghanistan, allegedly to liberate jailed members of the Taliban.

“I saw the narrow streets of Kabul chock-a-block with cars of internally displaced people who had come with their families to the city from neighbouring areas thinking it would not fall. The parks were occupied by these hapless people who had nowhere else to go,” he said.

They had been coming for the past one month but the situation had turned chaotic on August 14 as the roads were completely blocked, he said.

Subrata also recounted his conversation with a kiosk owner at the airport from whom he used to buy biscuits and cakes during his frequent travels.

“The man looked very sad. He told me: ‘Please remember that Afghanistan is a beautiful country but has no luck as far as lasting peace is concerned’,” Subrata said.

There was an air of desperation, a feeling of helplessness, arising out of the fear of an uncertain future.

“People are tired of the constant insecurity and want to leave the country. Their agony is increased manifold by the frequent attacks of armed looters who find them easy prey and do not hesitate to kill if faced with resistance,” he said.

The losses due to the unprecedented drought and the havoc wreaked by COVID-19 appear to have taken a back seat in the mind of the people of Afghanistan, Subrata said.

Most of them wish to relocate to either the US or India as they perceive these countries as peaceful and stable, he said.

Asked whether he would like to return to Afghanistan, Subrata said he would, as there is a lot of work left to be done.

“The INGOs are into the development work in the country in a big way. They are building roads, bridges, hospitals which the government cannot,” he said. — PTI