India withdraws diplomatic staff from Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

India has spent billions of dollars on development initiatives in Afghanistan since 2001

Indian diplomatic staff and their families gather on the runway after their flight from Kabul lands in Jamnagar, western Gujarat state, on its way to Delhi. Reuters

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India has flown its ambassador and diplomatic staff out of Kabul as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan after the collapse of the government.

An Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft took off from Kabul airport early on Tuesday and landed at Jamnagar airbase in western Gujarat state, on its way to Delhi.

Those on board included Rudrendra Tandon, who took over as ambassador to Afghanistan last September, 120 embassy staff and their families.

Some Indian journalists covering the upheaval in the country were also on the flight.

Diplomatic staff left India's embassy on Sunday and secured themselves at Kabul airport amid a brief halt in evacuation efforts.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted that the immediate withdrawal was done “in view of the prevailing circumstances”.

Indian authorities had sought to bolster ties with previous Afghan governments and had a large diplomatic presence in the country, with four consulates and the embassy in Kabul.

India has spent more than $3 billion dollars on infrastructure development and other support programmes in Afghanistan since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

New Delhi is wary of Taliban rule owing to claims the insurgents are backed by Pakistan, allegations Islamabad has rejected.

Last week, India advised its citizens to leave the country as Taliban fighters advanced towards the capital.

Evacuation efforts were paused after Kabul airport was closed and Afghan airspace was declared “uncontrolled” following the chaos as people fled the insurgents.

US troops fired into the air after crowds arrived at the airport to seek a way out of the country.

On Tuesday, New Delhi said it would introduce an emergency visa system for those who wanted to seek safety in India.

The government said it was in touch with a handful of Hindu and Sikh Afghans and Afghan partners and was ready to fly them to India.

India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and grants shelter to foreigners facing persecution in their countries on a case-by-case basis.

It has granted long-duration visas to more than 11,000 Afghans of all religions who fled their country during the Taliban's first spell in power and the two decades of war that followed the US invasion in 2001.

Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities, which once comprised tens of thousands of people, have shrunk during decades of war and persecution.

It is believed there are now 100 Sikh and 50 Hindu families in the country.

Afghan women, holding placards, gather to demand the protection of women's rights in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A person holds the flag of Afghanistan during a protest against support for the Taliban, in Berlin, Germany.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks at his first news conference in Kabul.

Taliban fighters stand guard outside the Green Zone where most of the embassies are situated.

Afghan security forces patrol on humvee vehicle along a road in Bazarak town of Panjshir province.

Schoolgirls sit in a schoolyard in Herat.

Afghans wait outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country.

A Taliban fighter raises their flag on a vehicle as they patrol in Kandahar.

French citizens and their Afghan colleagues wait to board a French military transport plane at the airport in Kabul after the Taliban's stunning military takeover of the Afghanistan.

French soldiers at the airport in Kabul as they arrive to help French citizens and their Afghan colleagues to flee after the Taliban takeover.

A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft filled with about 640 Afghans fleeing to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Crowds on the tarmac of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Several people were reportedly killed at the airport on August 16 as Afghans tried to hang on to a moving US military plane leaving the airport.

A satellite photo shows swarms of people on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, also known as Hamid Karzai International Airport. Afghans rushed on to the tarmac of the capital's airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed.

A traffic jam outside Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan after Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar declared victory and an end to the decades-long war in the country. President Ashraf Ghani fled and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war.

Qari Muhammad Hanif, centre, director of the Taliban's cultural and Information department, talks to journalists in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Humvee vehicles from the Afghan Security Forces in Panjshir province, Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans rushed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in an attempt to flee the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghans on the tarmac at Kabul airport in Kabul after a swift end to the 20-year war in the country. Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's rule.

A US soldier keeps close watch on Afghan passengers at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. Thousands of people packed the airport trying to flee Taliban rule.

Passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave the runway of Kabul after the stunningly swift end of Afghanistan’s 20-year war.

People climb on top of a plane in Kabul.

People try to enter Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

People cross the boundary wall of Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country after rumours that foreign countries were removing people even without visas.

Taliban fighters stand guard along a roadside near Zanbaq Square in Kabul.

A Taliban fighter sits on his motorcycle by a road in Shahr-e Naw, Kabul.

Talibs patrol the streets of Kabul as the militants take control of Afghanistan. after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Afghans gather on the asphalt at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.

Afghans gather by the runway in Kabul as US soldiers stand guard.

Taliban fighters on a police vehicle outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Baradar Akhund, a senior official of the Taliban, with a group of men, makes a video statement.

Taliban fighters take control of the presidential palace in Kabul, after Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Passengers from Kabul arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India.

Families on a motorway trying to flee Kabul.

Afghan security forces on patrol in Kabul.

People line up outside Azizi Bank to withdraw cash during a run on deposits.

Taliban fighters use a captured Afghan security forces vehicle at a checkpoint in Herat.

Ahmadullah Muttaqi, centre left, the Taliban's director for information and culture, addresses journalists.

Police officers conduct their duties after the Taliban took control of Kandahar.

People prepare to cross into Afghanistan, at Pakistan's Chaman border. Pakistani authorities reopened the border with Afghanistan on August 13 after it had been closed for several days.

Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas at the Iranian embassy, in Kabul.

Taliban fighters patrol after taking control of Jalalabad.

Smoke rises near the US embassy in Kabul. Taliban fighters reached the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday.

Anti-missile decoy flares are used by US Black Hawk military helicopters, while a surveillance blimp flies over Kabul.

An Afghan soldier keeps watch on a street in Kabul.

Taliban fighters and local people gather in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul.

Taliban fighters sit on an Afghan Army Humvee in Jalalabad province.

Taliban fighters travel along a street in Jalalabad province.

A US Chinook military helicopter flies over the US embassy in Kabul.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters gather in eastern Laghman province.

Militants wave a Taliban flag from the back of a pickup truck in Jalalabad.

Taliban fighters drive through the streets of Laghman province.

People head to the departures area of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as the Taliban approach the city.

A man sells Taliban flags in western province Herat.

Taliban fighters travel in an Afghan Army vehicle in Herat.

Taliban forces patrol a street in Herat.

Taliban militants raise their flag as they gather a day after taking control of key southern city Kandahar.

Members of the Afghan security forces stand guard along the roadside in Panjshir province.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and acting defence minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi visit a military site in Kabul.

Internally displaced families from northern provinces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Families that fled their homes because of fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Many of those seeking safety in Kabul have been sleeping on the streets.

Thousands of those internally displaced have been arriving in Kabul.

Afghans have been waiting for hours in long queues outside the passport office in Kabul, with many people desperate to leave the country.

“We are in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul. Their welfare will get our priority attention,” Dr S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, said on Twitter.

Critics say the decision to prioritise Sikhs and Hindus is in line with the Citizenship Amendment Act that Indian authorities introduced to fast-track citizenship to religious minorities, but not Muslims.

The move has upset Muslim Afghans living in India who fear for the lives of their families in Afghanistan.

“The Indian government should not think of the religion of Afghans and take quick action to support every Afghan," said Ahmed Gia Ghani, head of the Afghan Solidarity Committee in New Delhi.

“Are Muslim Afghans not humans? We urge the Indian government to have a special programme and give priority to women, translators and those who worked for foreigners."