Conflict
India evacuates its staff in Afghanistan’s Kandahar as Taliban captures more territory
New Delhi: India has evacuated its staff from its consulate in southern Afghanistan city as Taliban forces have advanced to within a few kilometers of Kandahar.
The Indian mission is now manned only by local Afghan staff and while it is technically open, for all intents and purposes, India is out of the region. In an announcement, the Taliban claimed this week they control 85% of the country.
Reports quoting sources said that Taliban are in charge of about a third of the country but have a significant presence at choke points that control cities and important highways.
“The security situation is grim in the north as well, so we are closely monitoring the situation there,” a source told The Indian Express. If the situation deteriorates, Mazar-e-Sharif could be the next place from where Indian officials and staffers will be evacuated.
As of Sunday, there were no Indian diplomats or other staffers at the Indian consulates in Kandahar, Herat, and Jalalabad — there were only about 15-20 Afghan staffers at each of these locations.
The Indian embassy in Kabul though, was still functioning with Indian diplomats and Afghan staffers.
Sources quoted in The Indian Express report said about 50 Indian diplomats and staffers were evacuated from Kandahar on Saturday.
A special aircraft of the Indian Air Force was sent on Saturday to bring back the Indian diplomats, officials, and other staff members including a group of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel, the sources said.
The evacuation has been carried out in view of the “intense fighting near Kandahar city”, the government said.
“India is closely monitoring the evolving security situation in Afghanistan. The safety and security of our personnel is paramount,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The official spokesperson of the Ministry, Arindam Bagchi, said on Sunday that the evacuation was a “temporary measure”, and that the Kandahar consulate had not been shut down.
“The Consulate General of India in Kandahar has not been closed. However, due to the intense fighting near Kandahar city, India-based personnel have been brought back for the time being. I want to emphasise that this is a purely temporary measure until the situation stabilises. The Consulate continues to operate through our local staff members,” the spokesperson said.
India has taken the decision to evacuate its nationals in view of the rapid advance of Taliban fighters, who have seized control of a number of key areas in southern and western Afghanistan, triggering grave security concerns.
Last Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kabul had said there were no plans to shut the embassy or the consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Indian embassy in Kabul had last week asked all Indians who were visiting, staying, or working in Afghanistan to exercise the utmost caution with regard to their security, and to avoid all non-essential travel.
The security situation was “dangerous”, and militant groups had carried out a series of complex attacks including targeting civilians, the embassy had said in its advisory. It had added that Indian nationals faced a “serious threat” of kidnapping.
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