ITBP personnel will be in Kabul till they see the last staffer out: Official

NEW DELHI: Even as ITBP personnel deployed for security of the Indian mission in Kabul are in touch with their families, sources said the troopers will be the last to leave Afghanistan, probably with the last batch of the mission staff to be evacuated safely to India.
“ITBP personnel are on deputation to the MEA. It is the MEA’s call on how to go about the evacuation. Since security of the mission staff still in Kabul is paramount, ITBP personnel will be on duty till they see the last staffer out. Meanwhile, the families are in touch with the ITBP personnel in Kabul and reassured of their safety,” a government officer told TOI.
Not wanting to share the exact number of ITBP personnel deployed in Kabul, the officer said the strength of the ITBP contingent deployed at the Kabul mission has remained unchanged even as the power scales in Afghanistan shifted in favour of the Taliban.
ITBP was handling security of the Indian mission in Kabul as well as the four consulates at Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, Jalalabad and Kandahar. While Herat and Jalalabad consulates were shut in the aftermath of Covid outbreak last year, those at Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif were closed over the last month in view of the deteriorating security situation.
The ITBP personnel deployed at each of the consulates were flown back soon after they were closed down. As of now, all the ITBP personnel guarding the Indian embassy in Kabul remain put, guarding the mission staff there.
ITBP personnel had earlier repulsed terror attacks on the consulates in Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad and were awarded the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG) and Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) for this on the Independence Day in 2016.