Tajik, Uzbek, ethnic minorities flee Afghanistan

New Delhi, August 16

Pakistan has said it is facilitating the evacuation of the international community, including diplomats, staff and NGOs. In a press briefing for the diplomatic corps in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood said Pakistan had already started receiving special flights from Kabul.

But Sunday’s flight data showed that while takeoffs from Kabul to Pakistan were sparse, over 45 flights had landed from there in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, indicating that Afghan minorities belonging to these two ethnic groups feared the Pashtun-dominated Taliban.

Mehmood said the Pakistan embassy in Kabul continued to fast-track the procedure for visa-on-arrival at airports. — TNS