Kabul airport resumed commercial flights with Pakistan with evacuees on board

A plane of the Pakistani company PIA became on Monday the first international commercial flight to land and take off from Kabul airport after Taliban seizure of power August 15th.

The airport has been virtually inoperative since US forces ended their chaotic withdrawal on August 30, following a frenzied evacuation operation that resulted in more than 120,000 people being expelled from the country.

The new Afghan authorities have since tried to put it back into service with technical assistance from Qatar and other countries. This Monday morning A Pakistan International Airlines plane from Islamabad landed around 10:30 am (06:00 GMT), before departing for the Pakistani capital.

Some 70 people were on board the flight to Islamabad, mainly Afghans who were relatives of the staff of international organizations like the World Bank, according to airport sources.

“I am evacuated. My final destination is TajikistanSaid a 35-year-old woman employed by the World Bank who refused to reveal her identity. “I will only come back if the situation allows women to work and move freely“, He added.

A 22-year-old student said he was leaving for a month-long trip to Pakistan. “It’s like a vacation. I am sad and happy. Sad for the country, but happy to be leaving for a while, ”he said.

On the flight that landed in Kabul “there was hardly anyone on the plane, about ten people (…), perhaps more crew members than passengers,” said a journalist from the AFP who was on the plane.

The resumption of commercial flights it is a first sign of economic normalization of the country and a test for the Taliban who have repeatedly vowed to let the Afghans parade freely with appropriate documents.

Several NATO members admitted that they did not have time to evacuate thousands of endangered Afghans before the August 31 deadline set by the Americans to leave the country.

The past few days have been overshadowed by the August 26 attack by the local branch of the jihadist group Islamic State, which left more than 100 dead at the airport, including 13 US soldiers.

“Welcome to Afghanistan”

The previous week, two Qatar Airways charter flights had taken off to carry foreign nationals and Afghans who had not been able to benefit from the gigantic airlift. In addition, an Afghan airline restarted domestic flights on September 3.

Over the weekend, Pakistani airline PIA reported that he wanted to resume commercial flights regularly, even if it was too early to specify the frequency of connections between the two capitals.

“This is an important moment. We are very excited, ”a Kabul airport employee, wearing a traditional long blue dress, told AFP. “It’s a day of hope. Other airlines might see it and decide to come back, ”he added.

On the airport runway, a bus with the slogan “Welcome to Afghanistan” was waiting to transport the new arrivals to the terminal. Finally, the passengers walked the distance.

Waiting rooms, boarding bridges and other technical infrastructure were badly damaged in the days following the Taliban’s return, when thousands fled in terror to the airport.

Many Afghans fear retaliation for aiding foreign powers during the 20-year occupation of the United States and its allies, although the Taliban are promising a general amnesty., including the security forces they fought against.

The Taliban promised a more tolerant regime for the tax between 1996 and 2001, but they sent signals to the contrary, such as banning unauthorized protests or shooting in the air to break up protests.

(With information from AFP)

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