The government on Tuesday appealed to all Indian nationals living in and around Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif to leave for India. The government’s move to evacuate Indians comes as Taliban militants are preparing to launch an attack to capture Mazar-e-Sharif.
“A special flight is leaving from Mazar-e-Sharif to New Delhi. Any Indian nationals in and around Mazar-e-Sharif are requested to leave for India in the special flight scheduled to depart late today evening,” the Indian consulate wrote on Twitter.
Those who wish to leave are required to immediately convey their full name, passport number and date of expiry via Whatsapp at — 0785891303, 0785891301.
It is reported that Indian diplomats too will be evacuated from the consulate at Mazar-e-Sharif. Earlier, Indian diplomats had vacated the consulate at Kandahar. Over 50 officials and security personnel were evacuated from the Kandahar consulate recently.
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As per reports, the Ministry of External Affairs is yet to say anything officially on the matter. The Indian embassy at Kabul is still open.
With the latest development, India has closed down all four consulates in Afghanistan, which had opened up with India stepping up civil aid to the Afghanistan government.
On Sunday (August 8), the Islamic terror outfit Taliban captured three provincial capitals, the strategic cities of Kunduz, Taloqan and Sar-e-Pul. A day earlier on Saturday (August 7), the Taliban took control of most of Sheberghan, including the provincial government buildings. On Friday, August 6, the Taliban had captured the city of Zaranj in the Nimroz province, thus extending their stronghold from southern provinces to the Northern provinces.
The Taliban has been making rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the US began withdrawing its troops on May 1. The US has already pulled back the majority of its forces and is looking to complete the drawdown by August 31.
(With inputs from agencies)