Indians at high risk of kidnapping by Taliban, warns Centre

As the Taliban took control of two major cities of Kandahar and Herat on Thursday, the capital of Kabul now lies dangerously exposed. In this scenario, India has warned its citizens residing in the country of 'high risk of kidnapping'. All Indian and foreign firms in Afghanistan have been asked to alert employees of Indian origin to leave the country immediately.

Hyderabad: India has warned its citizens residing in Afghanistan of 'high risk of kidnapping' and has directed all Indian and foreign firms operating in the war-torn country to alert employees of Indian origin to depart immediately. All Indians have also been asked to register themselves with the Embassy in Kabul and that an emergency plan has been chalked out. However, no evacuations are being carried out as commercial flight operations are still on.

TheTaliban on Thursday had captured Kandahar and Herat, the country’s second and third-largest cities after Kabul, further choking the embattled Afghanistan government. With this, 12 of the war-torn country's 34 provincial capitals are now reportedly under the control of the terrorist organisation.

In lieu of the threat from the Taliban, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued a security advisory for Indian nationals in Afghanistan. This is in continuation to the earlier three advisories dated 29 June, 24 July and 10 August. The Indian Embassy in Kabul has advised all Indian nationals to strictly adhere to the security advisories, especially given the brutal killing of an Indian photojournalist by the Taliban.

Read:Taliban capture Kandahar, Herat in major Afghanistan offensive: Reports

Special instructions for Indian media persons in the country for ground reporting has also been specified. "It is therefore advised that members of the Indian media should take additional security measures for their stay and movements inside Afghanistan including tying up of interviews and planned coverage before arrival in Afghanistan, as well as identifying well established security logistic firms who can make necessary security arrangements for stay and movement of the journalists," the advisory stated.

Earlier, Taliban had taken over 10 provincial capitals in Afghanistan, which roughly constitute 65 per cent of the country. This includes Ghazni, a city 150 kms from the capital Kabul, following which the Afghan government had offered to share power with the terror outfit. Meanwhile, the United States has decided to send 3,000 troops to assist in the evacuation of its personnel from its Kabul Embassy. UK, too, has deployed 600 troops to evacuate British nationals.

Read:3 Indian engineers rescued in Afghanistan from area not under control of Afghan forces