Jeet Bahadur Thapa shudders as he recalls how he and other Indians evacuated from Afghanistan recently thought they might be killed by the Taliban gunmen after they were made to sit on the ground in an open area at Kabul airport for five hours by the militia before they could leave for India. Thapa, 30, was working as a supervisor in a consultancy company in Afghanistan for two and a half years and was among those evacuated after the Taliban took over Kabul.
Despite their assurances of a more milder, more inclusive rule during their second run at power n Afghanistan, the Taliban have been unable to allay fears. And some reports from the ground only corroborate them.
Thapa says some 118 people from India who worked in his firm started on foot for the Denmark embassy, which was 30 km away, hoping that they will get a safe passage to India. “Some robbers stopped us and robbed us of about Rs one lakh and all the other belongings,” he says.
When the Indians told them that they were robbed, the Taliban members claimed that local criminals might be involved and that the Taliban were not involved in such activities, according to Thapa.
Thapa said there is an undeclared curfew in Afghanistan. “All companies and offices are closed. No one is leaving their house… Women and children in Afghanistan are very afraid and that’s why no women are seen on the roads,” he said.
No food or fuel
Afghanistan’s ‘acting’ President Amrullah Saleh, who is trying to mount an anti-Taliban resistance from Panjshir Valley, the last remaining bastion in the war-torn country, on Tuesday highlighted the dire “humanitarian situation” in Andarab valley of northern Baghlan province and accused the Taliban of committing human rights violations in the region.
Early on Tuesday, Saleh tweeted, “Talibs aren’t allowing food & fuel to get into Andarab valley. The humanitarian situation is dire. Thousands of women & children have fled to the mountains. Since the last two days Talibs abduct children & elderly and use them as shields to move around or do house search.” (sic)
WHO raises medicine SOS; Covid fears
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it only has enough supplies in Afghanistan to last for a week after deliveries of medical equipment from abroad were blocked by restrictions at Kabul airport.
The UN agency said it is also concerned the current upheaval in Afghanistan could lead to a spike in Covid-19 infections, with testing for the virus dropping by 77% in the past week.
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The WHO said 95% of health facilities in Afghanistan remained operational but that some female staff had not returned to their posts and some female patients had become afraid to leave their homes.
Deliveries of more than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits have been held up because of restrictions at Kabul airport, the WHO says.
The Islamic militia seized control of Kabul on August 15 after taking over almost all key towns and cities, following the withdrawal of the US forces. As part of its evacuation mission from Afghanistan, India has already brought back around 730 people including members of the Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities.
Flight hijacked
Earlier in the day, there were reports of a Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians was reportedly hijacked by unidentified people who flew it into Iran.
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister alleged that the hijackers were armed. However, he didn’t report anything about what happened to the plane or whether Kiev would seek to get it back or how the Ukrainian citizens got back from Kabul, onboard of this “practically stolen” plane or another one sent by Kiev.
Fiscal Dilemma
While foreign governments and aid groups evacuate thousands of people, they’re leaving billions of dollars in projects hanging in the balance, much of it through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.
The United States has allocated $145 billion towards Afghan reconstruction since 2002. The World Bank is contributing more than $2 billion to fund 27 active projects in Afghanistan, from horticulture to automated payment systems, part of more than $5.3 billion the development lender has spent on the development and reconstruction of the country.
On Friday a flight from Kabul landed in Islamabad with 350 evacuees, including employees from the World Bank Group and other international institutions. A World Bank internal memo viewed by Reuters confirmed that its Kabul-based staff, including Afghan employees, had been evacuated with their immediate families.
Citing a lack of clarity over its members’ recognition of the Afghan government, the IMF suspended Afghanistan’s access to Fund resources, including some $440 million in new monetary reserves that the IMF allocated on Monday.
Companies, including the U.S.’s big social media firms and natural resources groups, are split in how to deal with the Taliban, a microcosm of wider inconsistencies in how the international community classifies the group.
The country faces economic collapse without this capital.
(With agencies)
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