The Taliban visited closed Indian consulates in Afghanistan on Wednesday, explore for papers and took away parked cars, government sources said today.
Members of the Taliban visited the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat on Wednesday, per the sources. They “searched closets” in Kandahar for papers and took away vehicles parked at both the consulates.
After its breakneck takeover of Afghan capital Kabul, the Taliban has been polishing off door-to-door searches in Kabul to spot Afghans who worked for National Directorate of Security, the state-run administrative body.
India operated four consulates within the country, besides the embassy in Kabul. except for Kandahar and Herat, India also had a consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, which was clean up days before the Taliban took control.
India dispensed a difficult evacuation of embassy staff on in two Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft. India’s ambassador to Afghanistan was also brought back as diplomats and civilians scrambled to urge out of the country after the Taliban’s takeover. Some Indian nationals are still in Kabul, waiting to be flown out.
Indian envoy Rudrendra Tandon told reporters that almost 200 personnel of the Indian mission in Afghanistan had been evacuated within three days, besides civilians.
An intelligence document for the UN has revealed that the Taliban are going house-to-house trying to find folks that worked with the US and NATO forces, per wire service AFP.
The “targeted searches” have raised fears that the group, which has launched a PR blitz and has claimed complete amnesty for rivals, doesn’t shall follow its word.
Separately, sources have told NDTV that the Taliban didn’t want India to evacuate diplomats from its Kabul embassy. the govt. had received messages from the group’s Qatar office assuring them of the protection of Indian staff and security personnel, the source said.
The messages – sent from the office of Abbas Stanikzai, the chief of the Taliban’s unit – were routed via contacts in Kabul and Delhi.
India completed a “complicated” evacuation of embassy staff on, with two Air Force C-17 transport planes flying into Kabul airport on Sunday, because the Taliban entered the Afghan capital.
