Second Qatar Airways passenger flight takes off from Kabul

“We’ll proceed to supply confirmed choices for leaving. It’s as much as Individuals who stay whether or not they select to take them,” she added.

Earlier on Friday, the plane was seen touchdown in Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport on Qatari-funded Al Jazeera Arabic tv, and help was seen being unloaded earlier than passengers boarded the aircraft.

That is the second such flight to depart from the airport. On Thursday, the primary worldwide passenger flight to take off from Afghanistan for the reason that chaotic US navy airlift final month landed in Qatar, carrying scores of international nationals, together with Individuals.

The planes’ departures are the primary signal that at the least some international nationals who wish to go away Afghanistan will probably be in a position to take action, following weeks of uncertainty. Civilians have been left scrambling to search out protected passage from the nation for the reason that Taliban takeover in mid-August threw a US-led evacuation effort into confusion.

The French International Ministry mentioned in an announcement that 49 French residents and their dependents have been “evacuated” Friday from Kabul in an operation assisted by Qatar.

The operation ferried the passengers to Doha, the Qatari capital, from the place a flight chartered by the French International Ministry will return them to Paris. The assertion didn’t specify which flight the French residents and dependents took from Kabul to Doha.

Thursday’s flight occurred after Qatar labored with events on the bottom to move the passengers in a Qatari convoy and safe a protected passage to Kabul’s airport.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Than, Qatar’s deputy prime minister and minister of international affairs, thanked the Taliban for his or her “cooperation” in restarting flights, including that this was a sign that the militant group’s “constructive statements” will be “demonstrated into motion.”

The cooperation was additionally praised by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, who mentioned it provided “one other concrete demonstration” of the administration’s dedication to assist US residents and others depart Afghanistan in the event that they select to take action.

The highest US diplomat mentioned the departure of the flight “was the results of the Division’s common and shut engagement with our regional companions, significantly with Qatari authorities, who facilitated [Thursday’s] flight.”

“We even have been in common — usually each day — contact with Individuals remaining in Afghanistan. We have now offered them, together with these aboard this flight, with particular steering and directions. Our message to those that stay in Afghanistan is straightforward: in case you want to depart Afghanistan, we’ll show you how to accomplish that,” he mentioned.

This comes after Blinken blamed the grounding of constitution flights in Mazar-i-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, on the Taliban, saying that the militant group was not permitting them to depart. The Taliban claimed “that a number of the passengers would not have the required documentation,” Blinken mentioned.

Extra flights anticipated

Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority is getting ready for extra flights to start out working from Kabul, in keeping with an aviation supply who spoke to CNN. Each main Afghan carriers Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airways plan to restart completely different routes, in keeping with the supply.

The supply mentioned that the dealing with firm on the airport would be the similar one which was used previous to the shutdown of the airport after the autumn of Kabul in mid-August.

The terminal on the airport in Kabul is “prepared” for flights, the aviation supply informed CNN. Different worldwide flights are anticipated within the coming days.

The final US navy planes left Kabul’s airport simply forward of an August 31 deadline, marking the total withdrawal of American forces. That landmark second got here solely two weeks after the Taliban seized management of the capital. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned Monday that progress on getting Kabul airport “again to regular” had been held up by the harm carried out to radar amenities.

Within the meantime, hundreds of Afghans who labored with worldwide organizations within the nation stay left behind after in search of to flee throughout final month’s airlift.

Lots of them worry retribution from the Taliban, however Afghanistan’s new performing prime minister, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, mentioned Wednesday that his authorities guarantees amnesty for “all those that have prompted the Taliban fighters to undergo, and are answerable for probably the most extreme kinds of torture and abuse.”

“Nobody will be capable of show that he was subjected to revenge. And in such tense circumstances, it’s straightforward to do what you need. However the motion is disciplined and controls its gunmen,” he informed Al Jazeera in an interview, including that the Taliban “haven’t harmed anybody due to his earlier actions.”