New Delhi

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday said that all political parties including the government have a "strong national position" on developments concerning Afghanistan and the Centre has approached this current situation in the "spirit of national unity".

Addressing media after an all-party meeting on Afghanistan, the minister said, "The message which we all want to give you, all the political parties including the government is that on this matter, we all have a similar view. We have a strong national position on Afghanistan. The friendship with the Afghan people is something that matters to all of us. So we approached this situation in the spirit of national unity."

Jaishankar reportedly told the meeting that the evacuation of Indian citizens and assisting distressed Afghan nationals is the government’s top priority in that country.

He told leaders that as many as 565 people, including 112 Afghan nationals, have been evacuated by India from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control of the war-torn country.

Read More: IAF plane with 35 evacuees from Kabul lands at Hindon

Jaishankar shared details on the recent developments in Afghanistan with floor leaders of various political parties in Parliament. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders.

Among the 565 evacuees, 175 were embassy personnel, 263 other Indian nationals, 112 were Afghan nationals including Hindus and Sikhs and 15 were third-country nationals, sources said.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and LoP in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge were among the attendees.

According to the sources, the floor leaders were briefed about pre-emptive measures taken by the ministry, India's priorities in the current circumstances, evacuation operation, and challenges faced during the operations.

The minister informed that evacuation of Indian nationals and the safety of diplomatic personal were among India's priorities as Kabul fell to the Taliban.

India also prioritised assistance to Afghan nationals in distress and led international coordination and humanitarian efforts, the sources said.

He told the leaders about the challenges faced during the evacuation. He said the evacuation was happening amidst frequent firing incidents near the airport and inside Kabul, delay in landing permission, multiple checking at the airport, sources said.

He said under pre-emptive measures, the ministry apprised the leaders that the temporary withdrawal of India-based "personnel from our Consulates in Herat and Jalalabad" was done in April 2020, the Indian nationals were advised to leave the country immediately and the Indians were also warning of discontinuation of commercial airlines

The leaders were informed that India took several immediate measures including setting up of 24X7 Special Afghanistan Cell established in MEA and E-visa system started for Afghan nationals.

The ministry also informed about the setting up of a Special Afghan cell on August 16 to coordinate repatriation and other requests from Afghanistan in a streamlined manner, sources said.

The special Afghan cell is manned by more than 20 MEA officials. Over 3000 calls were attended by officials and they responded to 7,826 Whatsapp messages, sources said.