Status: 09.09.2021 2:56 p.m.
For the first time since the final withdrawal of international troops, foreigners are being flown out of Kabul. Up to 200 people are to be brought to Qatar – including US citizens and other foreigners.
The Taliban have allowed around 200 citizens of Western countries to take off from Kabul. They boarded a Qatar Airways plane that had previously brought humanitarian goods to Afghanistan. This was announced by the Qatari special envoy Mutlak bin Madsched al-Kahtani. He spoke of a “historic day”.
It would be the first commercial flight from Kabul International Airport since it was closed following evacuation flights and the final withdrawal of American troops.
Another flight on Friday?
“Call it what you want, a charter or a commercial flight, everyone has plane tickets and boarding passes,” said Al-Kahtani on the tarmac about the exit permits for dozens of foreigners. He hoped that another flight could take off on Friday.
The Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera showed women and children waiting at Kabul airport to be flown out. “We are very grateful to the Qataris,” said a man who the report said was a Canadian passenger.
A high-ranking US informant also spoke of around 200 citizens of Western countries who had received an exit permit. Among them are Americans, holders of a US residence permit and people of other nationalities. A diplomat said that 200 more foreigners – including US citizens – are likely to leave the country in the coming days.
The “Washington Post” previously reported, citing diplomats in Kabul, among those leaving as citizens of Germany, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and the Ukraine. The names of a total of 211 people are on the approved passenger list.
Qatar as a major player
Qatar is a major player in the Afghanistan crisis. In the Gulf state, negotiations between the radical Islamic Taliban and the US government about a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan took place in 2020. Negotiations between the militia and the Afghan government at the time were also held in Qatar. Qatar is close to the US, but also has close ties with Iran.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks on Afghanistan in Doha. The exit permit for a large group of Americans led observers to conclude that an agreement was reached between the USA and the Taliban.
Airlift for a few weeks
The evacuation flights from Kabul, which began after the Taliban came to power, were suspended at the end of August. About 123,000 people were flown out of Afghanistan via the international airlift within a few weeks. But not all foreigners wishing to leave the country made it out of the country in time. Numerous interpreters and other Afghan local staff from the foreign troops were also left behind. Many of them now fear acts of revenge by the Taliban.