ISLAMABAD: A commercial passenger flight of Pakistan International Airlines from Islamabad, the first international commercial flight since the Taliban takeover, touched down in the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Monday.
First foreign commercial flight since #Taliban‘s takeover lands in #Kabul airport – @afp pic.twitter.com/xOb4JoquEQ
— Mohamad Ali Harissi (@aleeharissi) September 13, 2021
The flight carrying a handful of passengers, most of them foreign journalists, landed at the Kabul airport, which was severely damaged during a chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people ahead of the August 31 deadline for US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“PIA staff took international journalists to Kabul [from Islamabad] and brought back a team from the World Bank and international news agencies,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said in a statement.
“This was the first international passenger flight since the new government took office in Kabul. The purpose of the flight is to promote goodwill between Pakistan and Afghanistan and to strengthen the operation on the basis of humanitarian sympathy.”
Khan said the flight was possible because of the efforts of Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, and other diplomatic staff, adding special arrangements were made for Afghan Civil Aviation and local PIA staff to restore services at Kabul Airport
“Trained airport staff joined duty and handled the flight,” he said.
An AFP journalist who was aboard the flight from Islamabad said: “There was hardly anyone on the plane, around 10 people […] maybe more staff than passengers.”
The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the Taliban, who have promised to allow its people with the right documents to leave the country freely.
Many NATO nations admitted that they had run out of time to evacuate thousands of at-risk locals before the August 31 deadline, which was agreed between the US and the Taliban.
A PIA spokesman said over the weekend the airline was keen to resume regular commercial services, but it was too soon to say how frequently flights between the two capitals would operate.
Qatar Airways operated several charter flights out of Kabul last week, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed the evacuation.
An Afghan airline resumed domestic services on September 3.
A ‘HOPEFUL DAY’:
“This is a big moment. We are very excited,” said one airport employee, dressed in a blue shalwar kameez and orange high-visibility vest.
“It’s a hopeful day. Maybe other airlines will see this and decide to come back.”
A bus painted with a “Welcome to Afghanistan” was waiting to ferry the passengers from the plane to the terminal, but in the end, the new arrivals walked.
Around 100 passengers were waiting to catch the return flight to Islamabad, mostly relatives of staffers with international organisations such as the World Bank, according to airport ground staff.
Passenger halls, airbridges and technical infrastructure were badly damaged in the days after the Taliban rolled into Kabul on August 15, when thousands of people stormed the airport in the hope of fleeing.
Tens of thousands of Afghans fear reprisals for helping foreign powers during the 20-year US-led occupation, but the Taliban insist they have granted a general amnesty to everyone — including the security forces they fought against.
TALIBAN ISSUE EDUCATION RESTRICTIONS FOR WOMEN:
While the Taliban have promised a milder form of rule this time, the group has moved swiftly to crush dissent, including firing in the air to disperse recent protests by women calling for the right to education and work.
Sunday, the Taliban higher education minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, laid out the new policies at a news conference, several days after Afghanistan’s new rulers formed an all-male government.
Restrictions on female university students include compulsory hijabs although Haqqani did not specify if this meant compulsory headscarves or also compulsory face coverings.
Gender segregation will also be enforced, he said. “We will not allow boys and girls to study together,” he said. “We will not allow co-education.”
Haqqani said the subjects being taught would also be reviewed. While he did not elaborate, he said he wanted graduates of Afghanistan’s universities to be competitive with university graduates in the region and the rest of the world.
While the Taliban have not ruled out the eventual participation of women in government, the spokesman said “it’s not necessary that women be in the cabinet.”
