“I have not slept properly since the trouble began in Afghanistan. I had been trying to call him but could get through to him this morning only,” said 38-year-old Bandana Rai Thapa.

Mrs Thapa is one of the several women in the Hills who are spending sleepless nights, -as their husbands are all working in Kabul, the capital of war-torn Afghanistan, which has now been taken over by the Taliban. Chandra Kumar Thapa, 45, of Aloobari in Darjeeling, is stuck, along with hundreds of other Gorkhalis in the country, it is learnt.

“I have not slept properly since the trouble started in Afghanistan, with many more like me, whose husbands work there, going through the same thing,” said Mrs Thapa. Mr Thapa is employed in Kabul as a security guard since 2017. He first went there to work in 2012. Back home here, he has a wife and a 14-year-old daughter.

“I could just talk for a few minutes today morning at around 6. My husband told me that he was waiting in the airport to be evacuated. After that I have not been able to contact him,” she said. According to her, her husband told her that their company was trying to airlift them to Dubai. She said that there were around 40 Nepali-speaking persons working in that company alone, with hundreds more in other companies in Kabul.

“The company my husband works for has evacuated the first lot today morning. My husband is scheduled to be evacuated in the second phase. I am just keeping my fingers crossed and I hope it takes place today itself,” Mrs Thapa said.

She said that she is also in touch with a resident of Chungthung in Bijanbari in Darjeeling, who was working in the same company in Kabul and that she is trying to get updates from him too.

“I am also in constant touch with Yogesh who works in the same company as my husband. According to him, he was in the first group that was evacuated today morning, along with 56 others,” she said. Mrs Thapa added that her daughter Shreya, too, is worried about her father’s safety.

“Every time she sees videos of Afghanistan on social media, my daughter is worried,” she said while making a plea to the Indian government to ensure their safe return home. Social organizations like the Edwards Foundation and Darjeeling Initiative are also doing their bit to help bring back the stranded people home. They have launched a helpline number-8509126800–where people can contact them and they will try to take forward the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs.

“A lot of people from this area are stranded in Afghanistan, so we have started a helpline number in which we will collect information and forward it to the ministry of external affairs,” said Roshan Lama, a member of Darjeeling Initiative.

Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has also written to external affairs minister S Jaishankar, apprising him of the plight of people from the Hills, Terai and the Dooars in Afghanistan. “The situation in Kabul and Afghanistan is concerning, and I am in constant touch with the centre regarding the matter of our people that are stranded there. More than 200 such people in this area are in touch with me. I have full faith in our government that they will do whatever it takes to bring them back,” said Mr Bista.