they landed at Ghaziabad's Hindon airbase on Sunday morning, after days of uncertainty following Kabul's fall to the Taliban.
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The group included Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families, people familiar with the evacuation mission said.
Terming India his "second home", Khalsa narrated his horror story which unfolded as their vehicle was separated from a convoy of those being taken to the Kabul airport for rescue.
"They (Taliban) separated us from others while going to Kabul airport yesterday (Saturday) as were are Afghan nationals. We fled from there because small children were with us," he told reporters at Hindon.The lawmaker, a resident of Kabul, expressed hopes that he will manage to go back to his country after it rebuilds itself.
"India is our second home. We have been living there since generations. We pray to God that Afghanistan is rebuilt, and we can go back there to tend to our gurdwaras and temples and serve the people," Khalsa added.
Explaining the ground situation in Afghanistan and its new rulers, Khalsa said, "The Taliban is not one group. There are 10-12 sections. It is hard to find who is a talib and who is not."
Honaryar, a member of the Upper House of Afghan Parliament, in a video message, said "I thank the government of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Air Force for lifting us from Kabul and saving my life."
All the evacuees arriving at Hindon and the IGI airport in the national capital underwent RP-PCR tests, officials said.
Alladad Qureshi, an Afghan national whose wife hails from Kashmir, expressed a sense of relief as he interacted with media persons at Hindon.
"I have two daughters. We thank the government of India, Modiji, MEA and air force for saving us," he said.
Manik Mandal, a young jeweller who had gone to Afghanistan six months ago in search of livelihood, smiled as he said, "We faced a lot of problems in Kabul, but our government saved us."
India on Sunday brought back nearly 400 people, including 329 of its nationals, in three different flights as part of its efforts to evacuate its citizens from Kabul against the backdrop of a deteriorating situation in the city after its takeover by the Taliban.
Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF aircraft, the officials said.
Separately, 135 Indians evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by US and NATO aircraft were flown back to Delhi on a special flight, they said.
A passenger coming from Kabul, Hari Thapa said that the sense of fear looms across Afghanistan after the Taliban toppled the government there. "However, we didn't face much trouble as I was staying in a hotel in Kabul and somehow managed to reach the Kabul airport", he said.
"The Taliban allowed us to go easily. We were staying in a hotel for a week to return to India safely", said Thapa.
Being asked about the Indian embassy's role in their safe return, he said that he did not get any help from the embassy. "We managed ourselves to reach the Kabul airport somehow. There was a chaos at the roads in Afghanistan capital city," he said.
About kidnapping of Indian nationals in Kabul, he said he is not aware of such thing in Kabul.
Recounting his horrific experience in Kabul, Hari continued saying that there is a chaos like situation prevailing at the airport. "Everyone is in a hurry to leave Afghanistan in any way possible."
However, he added that he did not receive any direct threat from the Taliban in Kabul.
Afghan returnees to be vaccinated against polio in India
India has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees against polio for free as a preventive measure against the wild polio virus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday.
The minister also shared a photo where returnees could be seen getting jabs at the Delhi international airport.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic.
"We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine - OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus. Congratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public health Take a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport," Mandaviya tweeted.
