Qatar’s top diplomat on Thursday said that experts are racing to reopen Kabul's airport but warned it was not clear when flights would resume, with many still desperate to flee Afghanistan's new Taliban leaders amid concerns over what their rule will hold.
Kabul’s airport, a major way out of the country, is now in Taliban hands but is closed, and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned Thursday that there’s still no clear indication of when it will reopen.
A team of Qatari and Turkish technicians flew to Kabul on Wednesday to help restart operations at the facility, which the UN says is crucial to providing the country with humanitarian assistance. It remains to be seen, however, whether any commercial airlines will be willing to offer service.
“We remain hopeful we will be able to operate it as soon as possible,” Al Thani told reporters in Doha. “We are still in the evaluation process. We are working very hard and engaging with the Taliban to identify what are the gaps and the risks for having the airport back up and running.”
In the wake of their rapid takeover, the Taliban have sought to calm those fears, including pledging to let women and girls attend school and allow people to travel freely. Amid uncertainty about Afghanistan’s future, tens of thousands raced to flee the country in a frantic US-run airlift that ended ahead of the final American withdrawal earlier this week.
Qatar has played an outsized role in American efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan and said it remains in talks with other world powers to enable the capital’s airport to resume commercial flights.
Kabul’s airport, a major way out of the country, is now in Taliban hands but is closed, and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned Thursday that there’s still no clear indication of when it will reopen.
A team of Qatari and Turkish technicians flew to Kabul on Wednesday to help restart operations at the facility, which the UN says is crucial to providing the country with humanitarian assistance. It remains to be seen, however, whether any commercial airlines will be willing to offer service.
“We remain hopeful we will be able to operate it as soon as possible,” Al Thani told reporters in Doha. “We are still in the evaluation process. We are working very hard and engaging with the Taliban to identify what are the gaps and the risks for having the airport back up and running.”
In the wake of their rapid takeover, the Taliban have sought to calm those fears, including pledging to let women and girls attend school and allow people to travel freely. Amid uncertainty about Afghanistan’s future, tens of thousands raced to flee the country in a frantic US-run airlift that ended ahead of the final American withdrawal earlier this week.
Qatar has played an outsized role in American efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan and said it remains in talks with other world powers to enable the capital’s airport to resume commercial flights.
