New Delhi:
The Taliban visited closed Indian consulates in Afghanistan on Wednesday, searched 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, according to 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 carrying out door-to-door searches in Kabul to identify Afghans who worked for National Directorate of Security, the state-run intelligence agency.
India operated four consulates in the country, besides the embassy in Kabul. Apart from Kandahar and Herat, India also had a consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, which was shut down days before the Taliban took control.
India carried out a difficult evacuation of embassy staff this week in two Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft. India’s ambassador to Afghanistan was also brought back as diplomats and civilians scrambled to get 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 nearly 200 personnel of the Indian mission in Afghanistan had been evacuated within three days, besides civilians.
The “targeted searches” have raised fears that the group, which has launched a PR blitz and has claimed complete amnesty for rivals, does not intend to stick to its word.
Separately, sources have told NDTV that the Taliban did not want India to evacuate diplomats from its Kabul embassy. The government had received messages from the group’s Qatar office assuring them of the safety of Indian staff and security personnel, the source said.
The messages – sent from the office of Abbas Stanikzai, the chief of the Taliban’s political unit – were routed via contacts in Kabul and Delhi.
India completed a “complicated” evacuation of embassy staff this week, with two Air Force C-17 transport planes flying into Kabul airport on Sunday, as the Taliban entered the Afghan capital.