As the Taliban reached Kabul on Sunday, India prepared to evacuate its staff and embassy personnel from Kabul in the next 48 hours.
India plans to complete evacuating its nationals before the US completes its withdrawal.
Sources said that though Taliban leaders had promised in Doha that they would not touch foreign diplomats and missions, but India was unwilling to take chances. A temporary evacuation, therefore, is likely to happen.
“We have our contingency plans ready,” said official sources on a possible evacuation.
Earlier on Sunday night, reports came in that the US had evacuated its acting ambassador from Kabul, while other western embassies were also moving their staff close to the airport.
However, Russia said they would not close their embassy in Kabul, saying the Taliban had given them security assurances.
Pakistan and China are also expected to keep their missions running in the city.
Taliban is perceived as a threat by the Indian officials in Afghanistan; therefore, the Indian government has decided not to take any chances and evacuate its officials.
On Sunday evening, President Ashraf Ghani and his top advisers had resigned and fled Kabul.
Ghani’s flight came a day after he said, “remobilising the Afghan security and defence forces is our top priority,” in a televised address on Saturday.
Many Afghans fleeing the Taliban are crossing over into countries like Tajikistan and Iran, and many making their way to Gulf countries and Europe.
