Ambassador in Kabul, staff to move to India immediately: MEA

New Delhi [India], August 17 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday said the Indian Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately, in view of prevailing circumstances in Afghanistan.

“In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a Tweet. Meanwhile, sources said that an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft has taken off from Kabul with more than 120 Indian officials. They were brought inside the secure areas of the airport safely on Monday evening.

India is closely monitoring the fast-changing situation in Afghanistan and will be deciding on the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from Kabul, sources said. Afghanistan government collapsed on Sunday with President Ashraf Ghani leaving the country, the New York Times reported.

Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday and took control of the presidential palace. Taliban leaders have been discussing future government plans in Doha after gaining control of Kabul and seizing the presidential palace in Afghanistan’s capital, as per a media report. Panic has gripped the Afghan capital as people fear a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule and the threat of reprisal killings. Thousands of Afghans flooded the tarmac on Monday morning, at one point swarming around a departing US military plane as it taxied down the runway. (ANI)