Leave Afghanistan, India tells its citizens
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday advised its nationals in Afghanistan to make immediate arrangements to return home, even as it began the process of evacuating its officials and citizens from the northern city of Mazar-e-sharif following advances made by Taliban fighters.
A security advisory issued by the Indian embassy in Kabul called on Indians to make travel arrangements before commercial air services are discontinued, and asked Indian firms operating in Afghanistan to immediately withdraw Indian employees from project sites before air services get affected.
All India-based officials and security personnel from the Indian consulate in Mazar-esharif and a small number of Indian nationals living in and around Afghanistan’s fourthlargest city were to be evacuated in a special flight late on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The exact number of people being brought back to India couldn’t be ascertained. The move came exactly a month after India evacuated some 50 officials and security personnel from the consulate in the southern city of Kandahar on July 10 following intense clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters in the area.
The Indian consulate in Mazar-e-sharif, which was the only fully functional consulate out of four such missions across Afghanistan, asked Indian nationals to take the evacuation flight. “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 consulate tweeted. It asked Indian citizens wishing to take