Sunday 15 / September / 2024
New Delhi (India)/ Washington (US): US, India and Canada are among the nations pulling out their citizens and embassy personnel from Afghanistan as Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul.
Air India flight AI244 carrying 129 passengers from Afghanistan's capital Kabul landed in Delhi on Sunday.
According to sources, India is closely monitoring the fast-changing situation in Afghanistan and will be deciding on the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from Kabul amid the Taliban gaining control. Earlier today, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani left the country for Tajikistan, after the Taliban entered the gates of the capital city Kabul.
The United States is pulling out all US personnel from its embassy in Kabul over the next 72 hours, including top officials, CNN reported citing sources on Sunday.
Most of the American diplomats will go to the airport in Kabul and then fly back to the US. A small number of core personnel, including the top US diplomat in the country, will remain at the Kabul airport for now, said the sources. This means that the US Embassy in Kabul will be shuttered -- at least for the time being -- by Tuesday (local time), it added.
The decision to pull diplomatic personnel out of the country comes as the Taliban has surrounded Kabul on Sunday after taking control of key provincial capitals.
Earlier, on Saturday, US President Joe Biden authorised the deployment of additional 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, raising the number of American troops in the war-torn country to 5,000 to ensure a safe and orderly drawdown of personnel.
The US President, in a statement, announced that he has authorised the deployment of approximately 5,000 US troops to make sure "we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance".
Earlier today, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital Kabul from all sides faced with little or no resistance. There are negotiations going on in the Afghan Presidential Palace ARG to transfer power to the Taliban.
Moreover, Ali Ahamd Jalali will be appointed as head of the new interim government, The Khaama Press Agency reported citing sources. Canada and Sweden are also set to withdraw their personnel from the embassy in Kabul. Canada has suspended its operations at the country's embassy in Kabul, CNN reported citing its Foreign Ministry statement.
"The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving and poses serious challenges to our ability to ensure the safety and security of our mission," the statement read. "After consulting with Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan, the decision was made to temporarily suspend our diplomatic operations in Kabul," it added.
Sweden will evacuate all embassy staff in Kabul, Afghanistan, by no later than Monday, CNN quoted Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde as saying.
As the Taliban has entered the gates of capital city Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that in order to prevent looting and chaos, they will enter some parts of Kabul and occupy outposts that have been evacuated by security forces. He also asked the people not to panic from their entry into the city.
