First post-evacuation flight has taken off from Afghanistan: Qatari FM

Some 200 passengers, including US citizens, left Kabul airport on Thursday, on the first flight carrying foreigners out of the Afghan capital since a US-led evacuation ended on August 30. The flight to Doha comes as the Taliban continue their transition from insurgents to governing power, less than a month after they marched into Kabul and ousted former president Ashraf Ghani.

Reuters WORLD

Published September 09,2021

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FIRST POST-EVACUATION FLIGHT HAS TAKEN OFF FROM AFGHANISTAN: QATARI FM

The first international commercial flight to leave Afghanistan since the withdrawal of U.S. troops departed Thursday, said the foreign minister of Qatar, which has helped open the airport in Kabul.

The airport "has been tested and operationalised in the past few days," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in Islamabad.

"We managed to fly the first plane with passengers just an hour ago," he said, thanking the Taliban for helping reopen the airport.