India evacuates diplomats from Kandahar as Taliban takes control
India on Saturday sent a special Air Force aircraft to evacuate around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Afghanistan’s Kandahar in view of the deteriorating security situation and the Taliban gaining control of new areas around the southern Afghan city.
People familiar with the development said on Sunday that the evacuees included Indian diplomats, officials and other staff members including a group of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel.
India’s decision to shut down its Kandahar consulate for the time being came in view of Taliban fighters rapidly seizing control of a number of key areas in the region as well as in western Afghanistan triggering huge security concerns.
On Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kabul said there was no plan to close the embassy and the consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Ministry of External Affairs recently said that New Delhi was carefully monitoring the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and its implications on the safety and security of Indian nationals.
“Our response will be calibrated accordingly,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing on Thursday.
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Afghanistan has witnessed a slew of terror attacks in the past few weeks as the US prepares to pull back the last of its troops from the country by August-end, after nearly two-decades of its military presence in the country.
There were reports that at least two foreign missions in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, have closed their operation in view of escalating violence in the region.
Amid growing concerns in India over the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Afghan Ambassador Farid Mamundzay on Tuesday briefed Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on the situation in Afghanistan.
The Indian embassy last week asked all Indians visiting, staying and working in Afghanistan to exercise the utmost caution with regard to their security and avoid all types of non-essential travel in view of rising incidents of violence in various parts of the country.
In an advisory, the embassy said the security situation in Afghanistan remains “dangerous” and that terror groups have carried out a series of complex attacks including targeting civilians, adding Indian nationals additionally face a “serious threat” of kidnapping.
India has been a major stakeholder in the peace and stability of Afghanistan. It has already invested nearly USD three billion in aid and reconstruction activities in the country.
India has been supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled.
In March, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar visited India during which Jaishankar conveyed to him India’s long-term commitment towards a peaceful, sovereign and stable Afghanistan.
