New Delhi: The Indian action in Mazar-e-Sharif was preceded by the airlift of Indian officials from Kandahar where the Indian consulate is located.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft managed to rescue 50 Indians just a few days before the town in which they were located was captured by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

An IAF aircraft, which took off from the Hindan air base on August 11, securely picked up Indian consulate members and ITBP personnel from the Mazar-e-Sharif consulate of India, top government sources told India Today. Around 50 Indian officials along with their belongings were picked by the IAF from Mazar, the sources said.

Mazar is a stronghold of the erstwhile Afghan government representative and warlord General Rashid Dostum and is now under the captivity of the Talibani terrorists. The Indian action in Mazar was preceded by the airlift of Indian officials from Kandahar, where the Indian consulate is located.

The Indian Air Force has since then used its air bases in neighbouring countries like Tajikistan to bring back stranded Indians. Two C-17s have taken off from Kabul since yesterday.

One reached India on Wednesday with around 46 personnel and the other with over 120 took off on Thursday morning.

THE EVACUATIONS

The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday and took control of the presidential palace. Soon after the terror group claimed control over the Afghan capital, several countries evacuated their diplomatic personnel from the country, and hundreds of people flocked to the Kabul airport in an attempt to leave Afghanistan.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval spoke to his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in detail on Thursday evening.

The US security forces are controlling the Kabul airport and after the conversation between the two NSAs, the Indian contingent was taken inside the American security zone at the airport from where they took off for India two days back.