Indian diplomats, security officials evacuated as tension escalates in Afghanistan’s Kandahar

Around 50 Indian diplomats and security officials posted in the Indian consulate in Kandahar were evacuated on Saturday, as the Taliban is inching closer to the southern Afghanistan city.
India has pulled around 50 Indian diplomats and security officials posted in its consulate in Kandahar in view of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the Taliban gaining control of new areas around the southern Afghan city.

Sources said that 50 Indians were flown to New Delhi in an Indian Air Force plane on Saturday.

“Local staff are still on the mission. But, for all practical purposes, the consulate is temporarily shut,” the sources said.
The decision comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs said the embassies are not shut but the administration is monitoring the situation carefully and will take a call accordingly.

In his weekly briefing on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “You would have seen the clarification issued by our Embassy in Kabul earlier this week, that our Embassy in Kabul and Consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif are functional. We are, however, carefully monitoring the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and its implications on the safety and security of Indian nationals in Afghanistan. Our response will be calibrated accordingly.”
The Indian consulate in Kandahar consisted of Indian diplomats and support staff and guards from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Meanwhile, Bagchi has said that 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,” he said.

Since reports emerged of thousands of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba’s associates joining the Taliban fighters in the intense clashes mainly in southern Afghanistan, the Indian security establishment had to take a call on the safety of Indian personnel.
There were reports that at least two foreign missions in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, have closed their operations 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.
With input from the daily Dhaka Post