Doing All To Evacuate Indians In Afghanistan: Centre At All-Party Meet

The opposition was briefed after Prime Minister Modi requested the Foreign Minister to keep them apprised of the situation in Afghanistan and the evacuation process

The government has told opposition parties that the immediate priority is the evacuation of all Indians stranded in Afghanistan, sources said on Thursday afternoon. This was after an all-party meet called by Prime Minister Modi to brief the opposition on the "critical" Afghanistan situation. Around 15,000 people have contacted the government seeking assistance in fleeing from Afghanistan, sources said, adding that the Foreign Secretary had also briefed the opposition about evacuation steps being taken by other nations, such as the United States, Russia and China. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi. Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge (Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha) and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (party chief in the Lok Sabha) were among the opposition leaders present, as were NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the DMK's TR Baalu, and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.