Afghanistan crisis: How India, US worked the lines to evacuate the mission staff

Thursday, 19 August 2021Newsdesk

As tension mounted the night before the airlift of Indian diplomats and civilians from Kabul, the Indian establishment worked closely with the US for the evacuation Tuesday. In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs coordinated closely with the US embassy to fly the Indians out of Kabul.

New Delhi, 19 August 2021

As per news report of The Indian Express, Sources said while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the cooperation was at a much deeper and operational level between officials on the two sides. NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Hash Vardhan Shringla supervised the Indian side’s contacts with the US, and at the operational level, MEA Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) J P Singh remained in close contact with US Charge d’ Affaires Atul Keshap. The Cabinet Secretariat was also involved in the process. Both sides communicated over an encrypted messaging system on a “real-time basis”. In fact, Keshap was in constant touch with the US base commander in Kabul airport, so that the Indian convoy could be allowed in.

Source -indianexpress.com