Over 20,000 Afghan evacuees reach Pakistan via Islamabad airport

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 29 (ANI): In aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, more than 20,000 Afghan nationals and other foreigners have landed at Islamabad airport from the war-ravaged country.

A total of 332 flights had landed at the Islamabad airport after the start of a special flight operation on August 16, ARY News reported. The evacuation mission from the neighbouring country has been limited to Islamabad airport. According to local media reports, the evacuation flights for transit passengers will now be operated by the Islamabad airport only while the operation has been suspended at Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar airports.

“We have made special arrangements at the Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore airports but now the operations have been suspended,” the sources in aviation said, as quoted by ARY News. Meanwhile, pedestrian traffic through Pakistan’s South-western Chaman border crossing has swiftly increased after the terrorist group’s lightning siege of Afghanistan.

“About 18,000 people are now crossing the border on a daily basis,” Hameed Ullah, the head of the Coronavirus Health team at the Chaman border told CNN. Earlier, approximately 12,000 people used to cross this border in a single day, the official added.

People also informed that there is a “situation of tension at the Chaman border” at the moment and “thousands of people” are coming to Pakistan side of the border, CNN reported. Earlier this month, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing at Chaman was reopened on August 14 after the Taliban’s forceful shutdown of the border. (ANI)