India evacuates staff from Afghanistan consulate

July 11, 2021 52 Views No Comment

New Delhi, July 11 (ANI): Due to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan’s Kandahar, some staff of the Indian embassy has been evacuated, said diplomatic sources on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the emergency services of the consulate remain operational. However, diplomatic sources stated that reports of shutting of Indian Consulate in Kandahar, Afghanistan are incorrect. And the mission remains functional, they added.

India had earlier hinted that it will bring back its nationals and officials from Afghanistan if the security situation worsens as the Taliban is making advances and capturing more provinces.

“With the Afghan security situation deteriorating, plans have been discussed for bringing back our citizens and officials present in different parts of that country and multiple agencies are in discussion for this purpose,” sources had said.

India has its embassy in Kabul along with the consulates in Kandahar and Mazar where it has over 500 staff deployed.

Two consulates in Herat and Jalalabad had ceased operations earlier there.

The country, which has had a big presence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 following the US invasion, has been helping the successive governments there including the members of the northern alliance who have been friends with India for a long time.

Describing the security situation in Afghanistan as fluid and deteriorating, the Afghan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay has said the Taliban need to cease violence and there should be an end to the bloodshed.