India evacuates 50 Kandahar embassy staff as Taliban captures new ground

India has pulled out around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar in Afghanistan in view of the deteriorating security situation and the Taliban gaining control of new areas around the southern Afghan city, people familiar with the development said on Sunday. 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, they said. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India-based personnel have been brought back for the time being in view of intense fighting near Kandahar city. Describing the pull-out of the India-based personnel as a temporary measure, he said the consulate continues to operate through the local staff members. He said India is closely monitoring the evolving security situation in Afghanistan. “The safety and security of our personnel is paramount. 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,” Bagchi said. He was replying to a media query on the issue. “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,” Bagchi said. He said arrangements are being made to ensure continued delivery of visa and consular services through the Indian embassy in Kabul. “An important partner of Afghanistan, India remains committed to a peaceful, sovereign and democratic Afghanistan,” the spokesperson said. India’s move to temporarily bring back its Indian staff came in view of Taliban fighters rapidly seizing control of a number of key areas in the region as well as in western Afghanistan triggering huge security concerns. On Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kabul said there was no plan to close the embassy and the consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif. Two days back, the Ministry of External said India was carefully monitoring the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and its implications on the safety and security of Indian nationals. “Our response will be calibrated accordingly,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Bagchi had said at a media briefing on Thursday. Afghanistan witnessed a series of terror attacks in the last few weeks as the US looked to complete the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by August-end, ending a nearly two-decade of its military presence in the war-ravaged country. There were reports that at least two foreign missions in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, have closed their operation in view of the 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. India has been a major stakeholder in the peace and stability of Afghanistan. It has already invested nearly USD three billion in aid and reconstruction activities in the country. India has been supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. In March, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar visited India during which Jaishankar conveyed to him India’s long-term commitment towards a peaceful, sovereign and stable Afghanistan.