Kabul airport set to resume normal flight operations in next few days

Kabul International Airport will be fully operational for domestic and international flights in the next two days, officials said.

Mawlawi Abdul Hadi Hamdan, head of Kabul airport, stated that domestic flights have already resumed and that technical efforts are being made to resume all international flights.

“Work is underway at the airport to return the airport to normal, and the technical teams of friendly countries are working [with us] and they have said that the airport will be activated for domestic and international flights in a few days,” Hamdan said.

Meanwhile, border police officers stationed at the airport have also returned to work.

“Supporting countries are working day and night and have managed to ready the airport for flights,” one border police officer Mohammad Nasir Nasimi said.

“We saw last week that domestic flights resumed and are normal and that there are no obstacles. We assure [the public] that we had two international flights last week and the airport will return to normal in the near future,” Nasimi said.

Currently, domestic flights are flying into Kabul as well as international aid flights – including two aid flights, from UAE and Bahrain, that landed on Saturday. These two flights brought in much-needed food and medicine.

However international commercial and cargo flights are yet to resume.

“Aid planes from Arab countries landed in Afghanistan and today two aid planes landed for the people of Afghanistan; we call on the international community to start sending aid to Afghanistan because the people are in great need of this,” Hamdan stated.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s envoy to Kabul Mansoor Ahmad Khan tweeted Saturday that a C-130 from Pakistan landed at Khost airport earlier in the day bringing in relief goods including food and medicine.

“Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan continuing effectively,” he said.