KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Some 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on Thursday on a commercial flight departing from Kabul on Thursday, the first large-scale departure since U.S. and other forces completed his frantic retreat more than a week ago.
The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked a breakthrough in the rugged coordination between the new Taliban rulers of the United States and Afghanistan. A multi-day confrontation by charter planes at another airport has left dozens of passengers stranded.
A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media, provided the number of Westerners on the flight to Qatar and said two senior Taliban officials helped facilitate exit: the new foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
Americans, U.S. Green Card holders and other nationalities, including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians, were on board, the official said.
Qatar envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani said another 200 passengers will leave Afghanistan on Friday. A diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also because he was not allowed to speak to the media, said foreigners, including Americans, will be leaving in the next two days.
It was not immediately known how many Americans were on board Thursday and how many were still in Afghanistan. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said before the flight that the U.S. believed about 100 U.S. citizens remained in the country.
Many thousands of Afghans remain desperate to leave, fearing what the Taliban government may contain. The Taliban have repeatedly said they could leave foreigners and Afghans with the proper travel documents. But his assurances have been met with skepticism, even with the departure of the flight from Qatar.
U.S. lawmakers, veterans groups and others are pressuring the Biden administration to ensure that Afghan military interpreters and others who may be in danger of Taliban retaliation for having worked with the Americans are allowed to leave.
As Taliban authorities patrolled the tarmac on Thursday, passengers presented their documents for inspection and the dogs sniffed their luggage on the ground. Some veteran airport employees had returned to their jobs after fleeing during the chaotic chaos of the U.S.-led airlift.
Irfan Popalzai, 12, flew in with his mother and five brothers and sisters. He said his family lives in Maryland.
“I’m Afghan, but you know I’m from America and I’m very excited” to leave, he said.
Before the flight took off, Qatar officials gathered on the tarmac to announce that the airport was ready for the resumption of international commercial flights after days of repairs.
Extensive damage in the frantic last days of the U.S. airlift that evacuated more than 100,000 people had raised questions about how soon regular commercial service could resume. Experts from Qatar and Turkey have been competing to restore operations.
“I can clearly say that this is a historic day in the history of Afghanistan, as Kabul airport is already operational,” al-Qahtani said.
“Say it any way, a charter or a commercial flight, everyone has tickets and boarding passes,” he added. “Hopefully, life is normalizing in Afghanistan.”
The flight was the first to take off from Kabul airport since US forces left the country in late August. Chaos-accompanying scenes, including the Afghans who fell to the death from the sides of military planes on takeoff and a suicide bomber who killed 169 Afghans and 13 members of the US service, came to define the end of the war. of two decades in the United States.
Al-Qahtani said the airport’s radar is now active and covers 112 kilometers after U.S. forces render it inoperable. Authorities coordinated with Pakistan as they tried to tighten control over airspace, he added. Flights are restricted to daylight hours.
The airport is no longer Hamid Karzai International Airport, but simply Kabul International Airport, with the name of the former president of the country removed. Several white Taliban flags flew from the terminal, which had the symbol “The Islamic Emirate seeks peaceful and positive relations with the world.”
Hundreds more Afghans claiming to be at risk of helping Americans have gathered for more than a week in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, awaiting permission to board flights. charter evacuation. It is believed that many of them do not have the necessary travel documents.
Despite skepticism around the world, the Taliban have promised that Afghans who worked for the Americans will not be targeted.