India has requested its citizens in and around Mazar-e-Sharif to board a special flight leaving for New Delhi on Tuesday evening as the Taliban is rapidly moving to seize the fourth largest city in Afghanistan. The Consulate General of India in Mazar-e-Sharif said Indian nationals who want to leave for New Delhi should immediately convey their name, passport number and other details through WhatsApp on two phone numbers.
“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 official Twitter handle for Consulate General of India, Mazar-e-Sharif posted.
As the American and Nato forces finalise their pullout, the Taliban has intensified its offensive and started to seize provincial capitals after taking over large swaths of rural Afghanistan.
While the international community is trying to get the Taliban back on the negotiating table, the militants of the Islamist fundamentalist group has started targeting top Afghan government officials in Kabul, showing no willingness to strike a deal with various stakeholders in the war-torn country. The US state department said that special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha to help formulate “a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.”
The United States has also urged its nationals to immediately leave Afghanistan on any available commercial flight. The US embassy in Kabul said last week that its ability to assist Americans in Afghanistan is extremely limited due to the security conditions and reduced staffing, especially outside Kabul.