India on Tuesday began evacuating its diplomats and nationals from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif and also asked all citizens across Afghanistan to prepare to leave as more areas fall to the Taliban.

Indian companies operating in Afghanistan have also been advised to withdraw their Indian employees from the country before commercial air services stop in view of the escalation in violence.

A special aircraft left for Mazar-i-Sharif during the day and the Indian consulate urged its citizens living in and around the area to avail the evacuation option. The decision to evacuate from Mazar-e-Sharif comes in the wake of reports of the Taliban advancing towards the fourth largest city of the country and apprehension that its fall is inevitable.

“A special flight is leaving from Mazar-e-Sharif to New Delhi. Any Indian nationals in and around Mazar-e-Sharif are requested to leave for India in the special flight scheduled to depart late today evening,” the Indian consulate in the city tweeted in early afternoon.

This was the last of the four Indian consulates in Afghanistan which still had some Indian staff on site. India had pulled out Indian personnel from its consulate in Kandahar last month and shut down the consulates in Herat and Jalalabad in 2020 in the early days of the pandemic.

Shortly before the consulate announced the evacuation plan, Taliban’s official spokesman tweeted that the “Mujahideen” had cleared nine bases, outposts and large areas on the outskirts of Dehdadi district and Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, of the enemy.

In a related development, the Indian embassy in Kabul advised Indians based across Afghanistan or visiting the country to make immediate travel arrangements to return to India before commercial air services are discontinued to their place of stay/visit.

“Indian companies operating in Afghanistan are strongly advised to immediately withdraw their Indian employees out of project sites in Afghanistan before air travel services get discontinued. India nationals working for Afghan or foreign companies in Afghanistan should immediately request their employer to facilitate their travel from project sites to India,” the embassy said in its security advisory.

According to government data, around 1,500 Indians are based in different parts of the country. India has development projects across the length and breadth of Afghanistan in practically every district of the country. There was no word from the external affairs ministry on the fast-changing situation in Afghanistan.