Taliban sign deal with UAE to manage 4 Afghan airports
The Afghan Taliban movement announced, Tuesday, that it signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to manage four international airports in Afghanistan.
On Twitter, the group posted pictures which it said were the moment the agreement was signed between Taliban officials and an official from the Emirati Company GAAC, which specializes in airport management and operation.
Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said the government would sign an agreement with the UAE to share responsibility for running airports in Afghanistan.
Baradar’s announcement on Twitter came after months of talks between the group and the UAE, Turkey and Qatar to seek an agreement on airport security co-operation, according to Reuters.
Qatar and Turkey sent temporary technical teams to help with airport operations and security after Afghanistan was plunged into chaos when the Taliban seized power last year with the withdrawal of foreign troops.
At the end of April, Reuters quoted officials as saying that negotiations between the Taliban, Qatar and Turkey to operate the five Afghan airports, including that of the capital Kabul, had reached a deadlock as the militant movement insisted that its fighters monitor the facilities.
The smooth operation of the capital’s airport is crucial to the recovery of the collapsing Afghan economy, and is being managed by the Afghan Ministry of Civil Aviation with the assistance of experts from Qatar who arrived shortly after the United States withdrew.
Afghan airlines Cam Air and Ariana Afghan operate flights to Dubai, Doha, Islamabad and Tehran from Kabul Airport, and Iran’s Mahan Air operates flights to Kabul.
