A C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with 150 people onboard landed at Ghaziabad's Hindon Air Force Station today evening, an official said.
The aircraft had taken off from Kabul at around 7:45 am carrying Indian personnel as part of the emergency evacuation because of the prevailing situation in the Afghan capital following its takeover by the Taliban.
Immediately after passengers on board the C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft deplaned, they were greeted by people present on the tarmac, the official said.
Those on board included officials and security personnel from the Indian embassy in Kabul. Some Indian nationals are also learned to have returned home on board the aircraft.
India's efforts to evacuate its citizens from Kabul involved discussions between National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in detail on Monday evening.
After the conversation between Doval and Sullivan, the Indian contingent was taken inside the American security zone at the airport from where they took off on Tuesday morning.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar also pitched in, speaking to US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
This is the second evacuation flight. On August 16, another C-17 aircraft had evacuated around 40 people including some Indian embassy staff from Kabul before the operations at the airport in the city were suspended.
The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday and took control of the presidential palace. Soon after the terror group claimed control over the Afghan capital, several countries evacuated their diplomatic personnel from the country, and hundreds of people flocked to the Kabul airport in an attempt to leave Afghanistan.
