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India to airlift 1,000 artificial limbs to Afghanistan

Dhananjay Mahapatra in Kabul

Responding to a SOS from the new government in Afghanistan, India will airlift over 1,000 artificial limbs and dispatch technicians for fitting them on war victims whose limbs have been maimed.

"A special flight from India by the weekend would bring over 1,000 artificial limbs and doctors and technicians who would fit them into many who had lost their limbs during the two decade long civil war that left behind thousands of men and boys without legs and hands," the acting charge-de-Affaires of Indian Embassy Azad Singh Toor said.

The doctors and the technicians would be bringing machinery for making adjustments in the limbs procured from India and they will be based in the Kabul military hospital, he said.

Asked whether the limbs would be available only for the military, Toor said, "It will be available more for the civilians than for the military. The doctors would decide who needs them the most."

Toor said the Afghan government has also requested the Indian government to send equipment necessary for air traffic control and radars to facilitate early commencement of flights out of Afghanistan by Ariana Airlines.

Ariana Airlines was grounded during the Taliban regime following sanctions against it, but the new government is hoping to start flights soon out of the country.

Ariana, which had around 20 planes, big and small, has now only a single Boeing aircraft.

Other areas where the Karzai government has sought cooperation from India is health, education, preservation of national heritage and monuments.

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