Qatar working with Taliban to reopen Kabul airport ‘as soon as possible’

The airport, the scene of a frenzied evacuation that ended with the withdrawal of US forces on Tuesday, is out of operation with most of its infrastructure damaged or destroyed.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s Foreign Minister, said: “We are working very hard (and) we hope that we will be able to get it operating as soon as possible.”

“Hopefully in the next few days we will hear some good news,” he told a news conference in Doha.

A Qatari technical team flew to Kabul on Wednesday to discuss the reopening of the airport, the first plane to land there after the evacuation.

A source with knowledge of the matter said the goal was to provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of humanitarian aid flights and resumption of evacuation efforts.

More than 123,000 foreign nationals and Afghans fled the country in the airlift operation, but many more are desperate to depart.

“It is very important that the Taliban demonstrate their commitment to providing safe passage and freedom of movement for the people of Afghanistan,” Sheikh Mohamed said.

He added that Qatar “is also in talks with (Taliban) and Turkey if they can provide any technical assistance”, he said.

Sheikh Mohammed was addressing a joint press conference with his British counterpart Dominic Raab, who said “we need to adjust to the new reality” of the Taliban regime.

“Our immediate priority is to secure the safe passage of those remaining British nationals, but also Afghans who have worked for the United Kingdom, and indeed others who may be most at risk,” Raab said. said.

Qatar has hosted talks between the Taliban and the United States in recent years and was a transit point for some 43,000 evacuees from Afghanistan.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda, the US invaded Afghanistan and in 2001 toppled its Taliban government, which had sought asylum in the country.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.