New Delhi: With the Taliban militants seizing nearly all of Afghanistan and now entering the capital city, the security and boarding processes of an Air India flight are underway at the Kabul airport, as per sources.
Sources said around 129 passengers checked into the AI-244 flight landed in New Delhi at around 8 pm after hours of delay.
Sources added the airline’s thrice-a-week flight to Kabul remains uncertain currently.
Heading towards Kabul, the Taliban insurgents have seized the last major city outside of the Afghan capital.
A Taliban spokesman said the group was in talks with the Afghan government for a peaceful surrender of Kabul.
“Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed,” Reuters reported the statement as saying.
The Indian government is also closely monitoring the hasty developments in Afghanistan.
India, as per a report, has devised contingency plans to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul amid fear and panic of a possible Taliban takeover of the Afghan capital city.
The people privy to the details of the development informed the Indian government is committed to not put the lives of its staffers at the Indian embassy and other Indian citizens in Kabul at risk, adding the plans have already been finalised if the need for an emergency evacuation arises, news agency PTI reported.
Meanwhile, the United States has begun evacuating the staff members from its embassy in Kabul.