Kabul airport reopens for aid and domestic flights

Domestic flights have resumed in Afghanistan, on Saturday, between Kabul and three major provincial cities, the western city of Herat, Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south, after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services.

Earlier, Qatar’s ambassador to Afghanistan said a technical team was able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid, after repairing the airport’s runway in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, in a further small step towards a return to relative normality after the turmoil of the past three weeks, according to his statement to Al Jazeera news channel.

Reopening the airport territory has been a high priority for the Taliban as they seek to restore order after their control of Kabul three weeks ago.

Kabul airport had been closed since Aug.31, the end of the massive evacuation of U.S and allies of their citizens and Afghans who helped them during the 20 years war in Afghanistan.

Most of the international community is yet to announce whether they will accept the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and as a result, finance and access to the country’s assets has been paused.

The Taliban has yet to form a government, but there have been reports that an announcement is imminent.

Meanwhile, the United States Congress is expected to finance United Nations’ humanitarian work in Afghanistan but is unlikely to directly fund a new Taliban-led government, according to US officials, as the world body prepares to discuss aid for the war-torn country.

UN chief Antonio Guterres is travelling to Geneva to convene a high-level conference on aid for Afghanistan on September 13.

This comes as clashes continues between the Taliban and resistance fighters in Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, raising fears of more civilians being displaced. The Panjshir Valley is the last province in Afghanistan holding out against the Taliban contol.