E-visa mandatory for all Afghan citizens travelling to India

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday said all Afghanistan nationals must travel to India only on e-Visa owing to the security situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country nearly over a week ago. “Owing to the prevailing security situation in Afghanistan, all Afghan nationals henceforth must travel to India only on e-Visa,” the Ministry said in a statement.

India had announced an emergency e-visa for Afghan nationals who want to come to the country in view of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan. All Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ online and the applications will be processed in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, a total of 16 out of the 78 evacuees from Afghanistan who landed in Delhi on Tuesday have tested positive for Covid-19. They include three Afghan Sikhs who carried the ‘swaroops’ of Guru Granth Sahib. As a measure of precaution, all 78 evacuees have been quarantined.

The Centre has made a 14-day quarantine mandatory for all the evacuees landing at the IGI Airport in Delhi. All the evacuees coming from Afghanistan will have to undergo quarantine for 14 days at the ITBP quarantine centre at Chhawla in southwest Delhi, according to the guidelines of the Health Ministry.

Amid the ongoing chaos and unrest in Afghanistan, the Indian government is continuously engaged in evacuating Indian nationals stranded in the war-torn nation.

Till Tuesday evening, India had brought over 800 people from Afghanistan as part of the evacuation mission that began on August 16, a day after Kabul fell to the Taliban. Thousands of Afghans have been crowding around the Kabul airport for nearly a week, in a desperate attempt to flee the country fearing the Taliban’s brutality. India is carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.