Taliban Say No Deal Was Made With Turkey And Qatar On Jointly Operating Five Afghan Airports

The Taliban led government in Afghanistan said that no deal was finalised with Turkey and Qatar on the joint operation of five international airports in Afghanistan. The Taliban stated on Saturday that "no final agreement has been reached so far.”

Taliban transport ministry spokesman Imamuddin Ahmadi shared the news at a presser. Earlier, delegations representing Turkey and Qatar held a productive meeting on Thursday. They planned to create technical groups to manage the operations of all the international airports. The Anadolu news agency reported this news on Friday. The Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aviation confirmed that discussions were underway with the Turkish-Qatari delegation regarding the international airports.

Five airports of Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s local media reports have claimed that the joint delegation presented its review report on the condition of the airports in Afghanistan. The five airports which were part of the discussion include Kabul International Airport as well. This airport was previously protected and managed by the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces. The four other airports of discussion were Kandahar International Airport, Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport, Khost airport and Herat airport.

Difficulty to run airports in Afghanistan

Taliban have been facing difficulty to run airports due to a lack of adequate resources. The situation at the Kabul airport remained tense ever since the Taliban took control over Kabul without encountering any resistance. Taliban took full control over Kabul within a few hours in August. Earlier, the Qatari technical team had repaired Kabul International Airport after the massive chaos erupted at the airport in August. When the Taliban took control over Afghanistan, international and local flights were suspended at Kabul’s international airport and across Afghanistan because many people gathered there. Reportedly, Hamid Karzai International airport was heavily damaged after the August 26 blast. Multiple people were wounded because of the firing around the airport.