ISLAMABAD: Over 20,000 people from Afghanistan have landed at Islamabad International Airport following their evacuation from the war-battered country in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
As many as 332 flights of military jets and private airlines have landed at the airport since the start of a tumultuous rescue effort on August 16 to evacuate people stranded in Afghanistan.
Later, the planes had also left with the passengers onboard to other countries.
The evacuation flights have been limited to Islamabad airport only, after previously being planned in three other cities as well.
The flights for transit passengers from Afghanistan will now be operated by the Islamabad airport only after such operations were suspended from airports in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.
“We had made special arrangements at the Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore airports but now those have been suspended,” a report citing sources said.
Pakistan has accepted the requests made by the United States and NATO to provide assistance in the evacuation of its people from Afghanistan.
The US embassy in Islamabad had also requested the government to grant permission for transiting the passengers via military aircraft under three categories: diplomats, citizens, Afghan nationals and foreigners.
