Qatar expects to have Kabul’s airport "operational very soon” and has urged the Taliban to help facilitate the evacuation of Afghans stranded after the end of a massive US airlift staged as its last troops left the country.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Doha with his US counterpart, Qatari Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said his country had dispatched teams to provide technical assistance to get the airport up and running, though an agreement with the Taliban over the resumption of international fights had yet to be reached.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who, along with US Secretary of Defense LLoyd Austin, is visiting the Gulf state to thank it for its role in helping evacuate 58,000 people from Afghanistan, said the US was working "around the clock” to clear roadblocks to charter flights.
A technical team has been able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid and it will be prepared for civilian flights soon, according to Qatar’s ambassador to Afghanistan.
The runway at the airport has been repaired in co-operation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador added on Saturday. The United States Congress is expected to finance United Nations’ humanitarian work in Afghanistan but is unlikely to directly fund a new Taliban-led government, according to US officials, as the world body prepares to discuss aid for the war-torn country.
UN chief Antonio Guterres is travelling to Geneva to convene a high-level conference on aid for Afghanistan on September 13.
Following the assistance from Qatar, Ariana Afghan Airlines has resumed some flights in Afghanistan between Kabul and three major provincial cities, the carrier has said, after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services.
Flights between Kabul and the western city of Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south have started, the airline said in a statement on its Facebook page.
“Ariana Afghan Airlines is proud to resume its domestic flights,” it said.
But questions remain over the prospect of a much-needed foreign security presence at Kabul airport — something essential if airlines are going to return to Afghanistan.
Turkey can give the mission of protecting Afghanistan's Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport to a private security company, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster NTV, Cavusoglu said the Taliban or Afghan forces can ensure security outside the airport and the international community needs a structure it can trust for the airport to operate.
"In my view, the Taliban or Afghan forces could ensure security outside the airport," Cavusoglu said.
"But inside, there could be a security company trusted by the international community or all other companies," he said. "Even if airlines, including Turkish Airlines, are keen to fly there, insurance companies would not allow it."
Qatar’s role is in this evacuation is vital, as Qatar has mediated between the Taliban and the ousted Afghan government, and the Taliban and the US. It means in this situation Qatar has become one of the few countries on earth to currently be able to facilitate the safe movement of evacuees through Taliban checkpoints, into Kabul airport, onto evacuation C-17 airlifter aircraft for rescue flights to Al Udeid — where the people are safely accommodated on arrival, have their papers processed, meet with medics and are Covid tested, etc until their onward flight with the US reserve airline fleet.
Qatar is co-ordinating between Nato, the UN, the UK, the US and with the Taliban to determine a timeframe for the rest of the evacuation process. European nations, including American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pressed for a longer window to continue evacuations past the deadline next week. CIA director William Burns even travelled to Kabul on Monday to meet the Taliban’s top political leader. However, Biden has stuck to the deadline, even after an emergency online summit of the G7 nations.
The author is an aviation analyst. Twitter handle:@AlexInAir
Speaking at a joint news conference in Doha with his US counterpart, Qatari Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said his country had dispatched teams to provide technical assistance to get the airport up and running, though an agreement with the Taliban over the resumption of international fights had yet to be reached.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who, along with US Secretary of Defense LLoyd Austin, is visiting the Gulf state to thank it for its role in helping evacuate 58,000 people from Afghanistan, said the US was working "around the clock” to clear roadblocks to charter flights.
A technical team has been able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid and it will be prepared for civilian flights soon, according to Qatar’s ambassador to Afghanistan.
The runway at the airport has been repaired in co-operation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador added on Saturday. The United States Congress is expected to finance United Nations’ humanitarian work in Afghanistan but is unlikely to directly fund a new Taliban-led government, according to US officials, as the world body prepares to discuss aid for the war-torn country.
UN chief Antonio Guterres is travelling to Geneva to convene a high-level conference on aid for Afghanistan on September 13.
Following the assistance from Qatar, Ariana Afghan Airlines has resumed some flights in Afghanistan between Kabul and three major provincial cities, the carrier has said, after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services.
Flights between Kabul and the western city of Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south have started, the airline said in a statement on its Facebook page.
“Ariana Afghan Airlines is proud to resume its domestic flights,” it said.
But questions remain over the prospect of a much-needed foreign security presence at Kabul airport — something essential if airlines are going to return to Afghanistan.
Turkey can give the mission of protecting Afghanistan's Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport to a private security company, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster NTV, Cavusoglu said the Taliban or Afghan forces can ensure security outside the airport and the international community needs a structure it can trust for the airport to operate.
"In my view, the Taliban or Afghan forces could ensure security outside the airport," Cavusoglu said.
"But inside, there could be a security company trusted by the international community or all other companies," he said. "Even if airlines, including Turkish Airlines, are keen to fly there, insurance companies would not allow it."
Qatar’s role is in this evacuation is vital, as Qatar has mediated between the Taliban and the ousted Afghan government, and the Taliban and the US. It means in this situation Qatar has become one of the few countries on earth to currently be able to facilitate the safe movement of evacuees through Taliban checkpoints, into Kabul airport, onto evacuation C-17 airlifter aircraft for rescue flights to Al Udeid — where the people are safely accommodated on arrival, have their papers processed, meet with medics and are Covid tested, etc until their onward flight with the US reserve airline fleet.
Qatar is co-ordinating between Nato, the UN, the UK, the US and with the Taliban to determine a timeframe for the rest of the evacuation process. European nations, including American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pressed for a longer window to continue evacuations past the deadline next week. CIA director William Burns even travelled to Kabul on Monday to meet the Taliban’s top political leader. However, Biden has stuck to the deadline, even after an emergency online summit of the G7 nations.
The author is an aviation analyst. Twitter handle:@AlexInAir