‘Over 200 people from West Bengal stranded in Afghanistan’: Mamata Banerjee

More than 200 people from North Bengal are still stranded in Afghanistan, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday even as those who returned from the war-torn country a few weeks ago recounted tales of horror.

“Till now we have received information that more than 200 people from North Bengal -Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and the Terai region – are stranded in Afghanistan. The state’s chief secretary is writing a letter to the ministry of external affairs to ensure their safe return to India and West Bengal,” Banerjee said while speaking to media persons at the state secretariat.

Even though India withdrew its diplomatic staff from Afghanistan, including the Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, several Indian nationals continue to be stranded in the country that witnessed the re-emergence of the Islamist extremist group Taliban on Sunday and the total collapse of the President Ashraf Ghani-led government.

Those who returned a few weeks ago recounted how the Taliban fighters had sneaked into Kabul, even before the city was completely taken over by them on August 15.

“Taliban fighters may have taken over Kabul on Sunday, but we had come to know long before that they had sneaked into Kabul and were hiding. Many Afghan citizens used to work with us in Kabul. They told us,” said Supriyo Mitra, a resident of Nadia district in south Bengal.

Mitra was working for a US company that used to supply food to the US soldiers in Kabul and used to stay on the US army base.

“On July 20 there Taliban fighters had attacked the parliament building with rocket launchers. That was the time we came to know that situations were not right and I resigned. One evening we heard at least 25 bombs exploding one by one somewhere close. The siren in the base went off and we had to take shelter in bunkers,” he added.

Mitra said that there were at least 20 people from Nadia in that camp working for US companies. Some could still be stranded.

“When I was returning on July 28, I could see many Afghan people waiting outside the Kabul airport. They all had booked tickets and were waiting for their flights to leave the country,” he added.

Yasmin Nigar Khan, who heads the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, an organisation of Pakhtoons or Pathans in India, said that Afghan people in India were getting calls from their relatives in that country while some could not be contacted.

“We don’t have any relatives in Afghanistan. But there are many Pakhtoons in Kolkata and across West Bengal who have their relatives and family there. While some have no news as they can’t contact their relatives, some are getting calls every day,” said Khan.

Family members claimed that Khan’s father, Khan Lala Jaan Khan who died in 1996, was adopted by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, better known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, to continue the struggle for Pashtunistan from India.