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First foreign commercial flight since Taliban takeover lands in Kabul
Kabul airport was left trashed after foreign forces completed their chaotic withdrawal on August 30, evacuating more than 120,000 people from the country.
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A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777 comes in to land at Heathrow airport in west London as the UK government's planned 14-day quarantine for international arrivals to limit the spread of Covid-19 starts on June 8, 2020.
(AFP/Adrian Dennis)
A
n international commercial flight touched down in the Afghan capital on Monday, the first since the Taliban retook power last month.
Kabul airport was left trashed after foreign forces completed their chaotic withdrawal on August 30, evacuating more than 120,000 people from the country.
The Taliban have since been scrambling to get it operating again with technical assistance from Qatar and other nations.
"There was hardly anyone on the plane, around 10 people... maybe more staff than passengers," said an AFP journalist aboard the Pakistan International Airways (PIA) flight from Islamabad.
The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the hardline Islamist group, who have repeatedly promised to allow Afghans 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 Afghans before the withdrawal deadline -- agreed between the United States and the Taliban.
A PIA spokesman said at the weekend that 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.
