Kathmandu, Aug 16 (PTI) The Nepal government on Monday announced that it was taking immediate steps to evacuate its citizens stranded in Afghanistan after the Kabul government fell to the Taliban insurgents.

The longstanding war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday when the Taliban militants closed in on Kabul before entering the city and took over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to flee the country.

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A Nepal Cabinet meeting decided that stranded citizens must be evacuated at the earliest, said Nepal Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.

The Nepal government had already formed a task force involving officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Home, Labour and Employment, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Police Department to carry out the evacuation operations.

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“The Cabinet meeting also directed the authorities formed for evacuation of Nepalis to work in coordination with concerned bodies," said Karki.

Similarly, the government has already asked all Nepali nationals currently living in Afghanistan to contact the Nepal government.

Those living in Afghanistan and wanting to return home can now register their name and provide other relevant details in the official website of the Department of Consular, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

The MoFA has published various ways to contact them including messaging services Viber and WhatsApp.

The Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi has already issued a travel advisory not to make any travel plans to Afghanistan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)