Amid the fast-deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Indian embassy staff in Kabul will be evacuated as the crisis on the ground at the capital worsens, top government sources revealed to CNN-News18.
A formal announcement in the matter is possible in the next 24 hours, the sources said, adding that the present staff is already winding up; arranging documents and other required things for their departure.
The Embassy will be left to local Afghan staff, as the government is concerned about the safety of Indian Nationals, the sources said. It is the duty of the Indian government to take care of its employees, they added.
CNN-News18 had earlier reported that according to ground reports, Kabul is ready for its takeover by Taliban, as the terrorist group continue its offensive against Afghan forces and blitz of cities.
Police stations are empty, and officers have run away with arms and ammunition for personal safety, sources said. It is only a matter of time by when the Taliban reach Kabul – either by late night or tomorrow morning, they said, adding that however, the terrorist group will not attack the Presidential Palace.
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Meanwhile, PTI has reported that a number of international organisations including media entities have approached Indian authorities to help them in the evacuation of their staff if the situation deteriorates further.
With the Taliban stepping up its onslaught across Afghanistan, the US has announced to send around 3,000 troops to Kabul to evacuate a significant number of its embassy staff.
The UK is also sending 600 troops to help British nationals leaving the country in view of the massive spike in violence. India evacuated its staff from its consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif earlier this week in view of the rapidly escalating violence by the Taliban around the capital city of Balkh province.
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“We are closely monitoring developments in this regard. We are concerned about the deteriorating security situation,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday about the developments in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has made rapid advances in the last few days and reports said it now controls about a third of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals. A US statement on Thursday said Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to stress that the US remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan in the face of violence by the Taliban.
The Taliban’s capture of Kandahar and Herat is seen as a major setback for the Afghan forces. The militant group has also captured the strategically located provincial capital of Ghazni on Thursday, increasing its territorial control in the country.
Meanwhile, the Afghan foreign ministry said it has raised with the international community the “grave concerns” of the government and people of Afghanistan over the Taliban’s brutal attacks on cities, which have led to “war crimes and blatant human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophe”. The Taliban has been making rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the United States began withdrawing its troops from the country on May 1.
The US has already pulled back the majority of its forces and is looking to complete the drawdown by August 31.
Meanwhile, India, Germany, Qatar, Turkey and several other nations have reaffirmed to not recognise any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force and called for an immediate end to violence and attacks in the war-torn country.
A statement issued by Qatar on Friday following two separate meetings on Afghanistan in Doha said the participating countries agreed that the Afghan peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of “great urgency”. It said the participants urged the Taliban and the Afghan government to build trust and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible.
The first meeting on August 19 was joined by the representatives of China, Uzbekistan, the US, Pakistan, the UK, Qatar, the UN and the European Union, the Qatari foreign ministry said.
With inputs from PTI
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