India’s evacuation mission continues, another 78 people brought back from Afghanistan

India brought back 78 people, including 25 of its nationals and Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, from Afghanistan on Tuesday and an almost equal number are expected to be evacuated from Kabul by Wednesday, people familiar with developments said.

The group was flown out from Kabul to the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe in a C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) late on Monday. From Dushanbe, the group was brought to New Delhi on an Air India flight on Tuesday morning.

With the window for evacuation flights from Kabul set to close because of the Taliban’s insistence that the US must withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by August 31, India and other countries have redoubled their efforts to fly out all their nationals and Afghan citizens.