Around 200-300 Afghans who were employed on the Indian mission in Kabul are desperately waiting for an evacuation call from India. However, since most of them do not possess a passport, the chances of their evacuation from the war-torn country anytime soon seem bleak as India, unlike many other nations, is not accepting Afghan refugees without a passport.

However, for these Afghans, Talibs are not the biggest threat. In fact, they fear Pakistanis among the Taliban more.

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“The Taliban have assured everybody that there is no reason to be scared and no one will be harmed. We want to believe them as Kabul has been comparatively peaceful since the takeover. But we are more scared of Pakistanis among the Taliban. We know for sure they will target us. We are all in hiding, staying with our relatives elsewhere,” a former employee on an Indian mission to Kabul told Indian Express.

The former employee told Indian Express that all those with the Indian mission before the coup have formed a group and have been constantly emailing officials at India’s foreign office in Delhi.

Indian external ministry source, however, assured that the newly created Afghanistan cell is looking at all the requests and will process them after conducting ‘due diligence’ on visa applications, reported India Express.

The Indian government on Wednesday announced the cancellation of all visas issued to Afghans before the India mission closed down. They were asked to travel only on e-visas that is being issued to refugees specifically for evacuation purpose. This comes after reports of a number of Afghans misplacing their visas came to light.

The former employees, on the other hand, are concerned that they will not be taken in by India till they don’t have a passport and a new one is not possible as the passport office in Kabul is shut. 

Meanwhile, tensions and uncertainty are on the rise as the Taliban recently gave the United States an August 31 deadline to wind up their evacuation operations in Kabul. 

These Afghans fear that a similar restriction would soon be imposed on India as well and their chance of fleeing the country will be gone forever. 

India has so far successfully evacuated more than 800 people, including around 300 Afghans from the capital city. The country is being allowed only to operate two flights per day.