For the first time since the United States’ chaotic exit from Afghanistan at the end of August, the Taliban has cleared over 200 foreigners to exit the country.
A commercial flight from Kabul to Qatar departed on Thursday, transporting 30 Americans and scores of Afghan dual nationals who hold passports from Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Canada and Germany, according to The Washington Post.
The Post adds:
Mutlaq al-Qahtani, Qatar’s special envoy to Afghanistan, told reporters that it should no longer be seen as an “evacuation” but rather free passage for those with valid travel documents. “We want people to think this is normal.”
The Taliban reportedly green-lit the departures after pressure from U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad.
More international flights are expected to depart Afghanistan in the coming days as the Kabul airport fixes damage sustained during America’s frenzied departure. The Wall Street Journal explains:
U.S. forces rendered the radar and other equipment at the Kabul airport inoperable as they left on Aug. 30, concluding an emergency airlift that transported some 120,000 foreigners and Afghans who had helped the West during the 20-year war. Since then, Qatar sent a team of technicians to restore some flight-control capabilities, and Ariana Afghan Airlines resumed flight-by-sight domestic connections to the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat on Saturday.
The resumption of flights is a hopeful sign for U.S.-Taliban coordination, but The New York Times reports, “there was no indication that the Taliban would allow the tens of thousands of Afghans who qualify for emergency American visas to leave.”
The Taliban is reportedly incensed that so many highly skilled Afghans have left the country, which will need all the help it can get to rebuild crumbling institutions and infrastructure.
The Taliban has attempted to slow that brain drain by requiring travel documents that many would-be exiles cannot obtain.
Hundreds of Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort have gathered for more than a week in Mazar-e-Sharif, waiting for permission to board privately chartered evacuation flights. The Taliban has not granted that permission.
“We’ve made clear to all parties—we’ve made it clear to the Taliban—that these charters need to be able to depart,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
But in the face of Taliban obstinance, the U.S. has begun telling those waiting in Mazar-e-Sharif to head to Kabul, with the hope of getting them on exit flights departing from the Afghan capital.