Govt to evacuate staff, Indian citizens from Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif

This comes amid the ongoing Taliban offensive in Afghanistan

Amid the ongoing Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, India has asked its nationals to leave from places in and around Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province.

Indian Consulate General on Tuesday said that it has arranged a special flight from Mazar-e-Sharif to New Delhi which will depart on Tuesday evening.

"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 General in Mazar-e-Sharif said.

"Indian citizens desiring to leave by special flight should immediately convey their full name, passport number, date of expiry by whatsapp at the following numbers: 0785891303 0785891301," Consulate General added.

The Taliban captured on Monday another provincial capital in the North, Aybak city, reportedly without any resistance by the Afghan defense forces. Further, the Taliban have intensified assaults on the capitals of Balkh (Mazar-e-Sharif); Baghlan (Pul-e-Khumri); Badakhshan (Faizabad) and Farah (Farah).

Separately, clashes continued in Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat cities.

Last month, some staff of the Indian embassy in Kandahar was evacuated due to the deteriorating security situation in the province. Earlier, India had hinted that it will bring back its nationals and officials from Afghanistan if the security situation worsens as the Taliban is making advances and capturing more provinces.