Flight with 129 passengers from Kabul lands in Delhi, amid transfer of power in Afghanistan

Flight with a full load of passengers has flown out of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on Sunday evening and is expected to arrive in New Delhi tonight.

Image used for representational purpose

NEW DELHI: An Air India plane with 129 passengers landed in Delhi, the AI-144 flight had flown out of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on Sunday evening (August 15, 2021), ANI reported.  

While, a senior Afghan Interior Ministry official informed that President Ashraf Ghani had left the city for Tajikistan. Asked for comment, the president`s office "cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani`s movement for security reasons".

Currently, India has closed its consulates and visas are only being issued from the Indian embassy in Kabul. Earlier, India had announced that it was closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and the evacuation of its diplomatic personnel from Kabul will take place shortly.

"The government is closely monitoring the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian embassy in Kabul at any risk," said a person familiar with the developments. Specifically asked when the Indian staffers and citizens in Kabul will be evacuated, they said decisions will depend on the ground situation.

As the situation deteriorated in Kabul, the United States and the embassies of several other countries began evacuating their staff from the Afghan city. The Afghan Presidential Palace on Twitter informed that that the situation in Kabul is under control. Though sporadic instances of gunshots have been reported.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had a telephone conversation with security officials regarding the security of the citizens in Kabul, it said. The BBC reported from Kabul, quoting the country's acting interior minister, that a peaceful transfer of power to the transitional government is being prepared. 

In the last few days, the Taliban fighters have swept through most parts of Afghanistan, seizing control of around 25 of the 34 provincial capitals, including cities such as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.