When India airlifts around 110 people including Afghans nationals from Kabul

A special repatriation flight from Kabul with around 110 people, including Afghan citizens belonging to the Hindu and Sikh communities, is set to arrive here on Friday.

The flight chartered by the Government of India is being operated from Kabul and is likely to arrive here around noon.

The flight is repatriating the stranded Indian citizens there and distressed Afghan citizens belonging to the Hindu and Sikh Community along with spouses of Indian citizens, according to a statement by India World Forum.

The three Sri Guru Grant Sahib from historical edwards in Afghanistan and Hindu religious scriptures including Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita from the ancient 5th Century Asama Manner, Kabul are also being flown to India.

The India World Forum said that after their arrival, the Afghan nationals will be rehabilitated by Sobti Foundation.

"It is pertinent to mention that the family of Bahram Ali, a local security guard who was killed during the terror attack in Gurdwara, Guru Had Ran, Show Bazaar, Kabul is also being facilitated and being airlifted and will be rehabilitated by Sobti Foundation," the statement read.

The Sri Guru Grant Sahib will proceed towards edwards Guru Arjun Dev Hi, Mahavira Nagar and the Hindu religious scriptures will proceed towards Asama Manner in Faridabad.

India has evacuated 565 stranded persons from Afghanistan since August when Kabul fell to the Taliban fighters, the Government stated last week in the Lok Sakha.

Answering a question from Congress MP Hi bi Eden, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said officials of the Ministry of External Affairs were in contact with the Indians left behind. The statement, however, did not elaborate if the airlifted individuals also included some Afghans.

Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers imposed some order around chaotic Kabul airport on Sunday, making sure people formed orderly queues outside the main gates and not allowing crowds to gather at the perimeter, witnesses said. There was no violence or confusion at the airport as dawn broke on Sunday, said the witnesses. Although it was early, there were long lines forming, they said. Australia ran four flights into Kabul on Saturday night, evacuating more than 300 people, including Australians, Afghan visa holders, New Zealanders, U.S. and British citizens, Prime Minister Scott .

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan more than three and a half months ago amid the chaotic withdrawal of the United States-led foreign forces, its members have changed roles, from fighting in the mountains and fields to becoming an armed force running the country.

Many Taliban foot soldiers now have new jobs: manning checkpoints on the streets and carrying out security patrols in and around Afghan cities and towns.

Last month, several Taliban fighters posed for portrait photographs for The Associated Press news agency on nighttime patrols and at checkpoints in the western city of Herat.

One of them, 21-year-old Ahmad Wali, was on patrol in the village of Kamar Kalagh, north of Herat. A student in an Islamic religious school known as a “madrassa”, he said he joined the Taliban because he was against the American presence in his country and against the previous Afghan government, which was widely criticised for corruption.

Now, he said, he is very busy with his new responsibilities of providing security in the area he was assigned to. He hopes both he and his country will have a bright future, and said he was “99 percent sure” better days will come for all people in Afghanistan.

After the Taliban takeover in mid-August, Afghanistan’s already dilapidated and aid-dependent economy careened into a full-blown crisis. The international community has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in financing that the country of 38 million people relied on. Billions of dollars in Afghan assets abroad have been frozen.

Afghanistan’s banking system has been largely cut off from the world, and the new Taliban rulers have been largely unable to pay salaries, while jobs across the economy have disappeared.

Women have been mostly barred from the job market, except in certain professions, and from high school education, while tens of thousands of people, including highly educated professionals, have fled or are trying to flee Afghanistan, leading to a massive brain drain.

Here are some portraits of Taliban fighters who posed for photos at various checkpoints in the western city of Herat, the third largest in Afghanistan.