India begins evacuation from Kabul

Air India operates flight as Kabul falls to the Taliban.

The situation in Kabul is “extremely fluid and unpredictable”, said officials here on Sunday as Air India operated a commercial flight that evacuated 129 passengers. The aircraft, AI 243 faced difficulty while landing in Kabul and had to circle over the Afghan capital for sometime as countries raced against time to evacuate their citizens as the Taliban fighters took over. Available information suggests that the Government of President Ashraf Ghani has collapsed and the whereabouts of the President is uncertain. Air India sources informed that a similar flight will leave for Kabul on Monday morning to continue the process of evacuation of the Indian nationals stuck in the Afghan capital which at present is facing disfunctional banks and surrender of the traffic police in various parts of the capital. Sources here refused to confirm if India will shut down its embassy in Kabul even as South Block continued to review the security situation. It is however, likely that depending on the security situation, the India-based officials could be brought back at any moment.