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Kabul airport reopens to receive aid, domestic flights restart

Passengers disembark as they arrive from Kandahar, at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. [Wali Sabawoon/AP Photo]
Passengers disembark as they arrive from Kandahar, at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. [Wali Sabawoon/AP Photo]
5 Sep 2021

Ariana Afghan Airlines has resumed flying between Kabul and three major provincial cities after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services.

Flights between Kabul and the city of Herat in the west, Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, and Kandahar in the south have restarted, the airline said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Earlier, Qatar’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Saeed bin Mubarak al-Khayarin said a technical team had been able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid.

Lauding this as a step taken to return the country to relative normality after a tumultuous period, the ambassador added that the airport runway has been repaired in cooperation with Afghan authorities.

Reopening the airport, a vital lifeline to both the outside world and across Afghanistan’s mountainous territory, has been a high priority for the Taliban as it seeks to restore order after they completed their lightning seizure of the country by taking Kabul on August 15.

Passengers board a Boeing 737-4Y0 of Ariana Afghan Airlines at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
Passengers board a Boeing 737-4Y0 of Ariana Afghan Airlines at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
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Afghanistan's major airports re-opened for domestic flights as the Taliban pressed ahead with attempts to foster a sense of normality weeks after it swept to power. [EPA]
Afghanistan's major airports re-opened for domestic flights as the Taliban pressed ahead with attempts to foster a sense of normality weeks after it swept to power. [EPA]
Passengers arrive at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
Passengers arrive at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
An airport worker sweeps the floor at the terminal after flight operations resumed across Afghanistan, at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
An airport worker sweeps the floor at the terminal after flight operations resumed across Afghanistan, at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
Flights between Kabul and Herat in the west, Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, and Kandahar in the south have resumed. [EPA]
Flights between Kabul and Herat in the west, Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, and Kandahar in the south have resumed. [EPA]
An International Committee of the Red Cross staff arrives at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
An International Committee of the Red Cross staff arrives at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
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A Beechcraft 1900D aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross taxies at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
A Beechcraft 1900D aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross taxies at Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport in Kandahar. [EPA]
Passengers board the plane for the first domestic flight from Taliban-controlled Kabul airport. [Bilal Güler/Anadolu]
Passengers board the plane for the first domestic flight from Taliban-controlled Kabul airport. [Bilal Güler/Anadolu]

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