India, on Tuesday, August 10, has directed its nationals to depart Afghanistan on a “special flight” from Mazar-i-Sharif – the country’s fourth-largest city – amid intense fighting with the Taliban.
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Special 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 Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif tweeted yesterday. As per Times of India, the government Tuesday evacuated Indian nationals in and around the city, including the consulate staff, by a special IAF flight late evening. With this, there will be no Indians in any of the four consulates in Mazar, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Herat.
According to government data, it has asked all Indian citizens who wish to leave by the special flight to submit the details like their full name and passport number to the consulate immediately.
Around 1,500 Indians are currently staying in Afghanistan. India has already pulled out around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar last month following intense clashes between Afghanistan forces and Taliban fighters in and around the city.
Advisory for Indian Nationals to stay updated on the availability of Commercial flights
The embassy had also put out a security advisory for all Indian nationals visiting, staying, and working in Afghanistan to keep themselves notified of the availability of commercial flights.
They have also been directed to make rapid arrangements to return to India before the flight services are affected in the area they are staying in.
The advisory also asked media persons from India in the country to get in touch with the embassy for specific advice on locations they are traveling to.
Sights on Mazar-i-Sharif
The Taliban on Monday said that they had turned their sights on Mazar-i-Sharif. A spokesperson of the insurgents took to social media to announce that they had launched a four-pronged attack on the city.
They have already taken over Sheberghan to its west and Kunduz and Taloqan in the east. Mazar-i-Sharif is the largest and considered the most important city in the north of Afghanistan. It is an anchorman to the government’s command over the area.
