Qatari plane carrying aid arrives in Kabul

A Qatari plane carrying humanitarian aid provided by Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and Qatar Charity has arrived at Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan.The aid includes 17 tonnes of medical aid and basic food products such as rice, sugar, salt, flour and infant formula, QNA reported on Saturday.Ambassador of Qatar to Afghanistan Saeed bin Mubarak al-Khayareen attended the arrival of the plane.He also witnessed the launch of the first domestic civil flights from Kabul to Kandahar airport and Mazar-i-Sharif airport after the recent events.Al-Khayareen said that a Qatari technical team was able to reopen Kabul Airport to receive humanitarian aid and flights, and that the airport will be ready for international civil flights soon.Reuters adds: "Ariana Afghan Airlines is proud to resume its domestic flights," the airline said in a statement on its Facebook page.The airport's runway has been repaired in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador said, according to Al Jazeera, in a further small step towards a return to relative normality after the turmoil of the past three weeks.

 

Reopening the airport, a vital lifeline with both the outside world and across Afghanistan's mountainous territory has been a high priority for the Taliban as they seek to restore order after their lightning seizure of Kabul on Aug.15.Kabul airport had been closed since the end of the massive US-led airlift of its citizens, other Western nationals and Afghans who helped Western countries.The end of that evacuation of tens of thousands of people marked the withdrawal of the last US forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.Thousands of people wanting to leave Afghanistan, fearful of life under Taliban rule, were left behind when the evacuation operation ended at the end of August.