Qatar partners with Taliban to reopen Kabul airport

Qatar is working with the Taliban to reopen the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul as soon as possible. This was said by Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Thursday in Doha during a press conference with his British counterpart Dominic Raab. Turkey says it is evaluating proposals from the Taliban and other countries to help reopen the airport.

“However, there is no agreement yet,” al-Thani said. “We are still in the evaluation phase. We have no indication yet about a time when the airport will be fully operational again.”

Qatar, which has sent a Boeing C-17A Globemaster to Kabul, is currently receiving international attention for its ability to communicate with the Taliban. The country also played a role as a mediator between the radical Islamist movement and the Afghan government before the Taliban took power.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said today that Turkey is evaluating proposals from the Taliban and other countries to help reopen Kabul airport. “We have received requests for cooperation from the Taliban and several countries to reopen the airport, and we are going to evaluate all of them,” Cavusoglu said. “But the most important thing is that airport security is ensured.”

With regard to the latter, according to Cavusoglu, the Taliban has emphasized that it wants to take care of security itself until now. “Security must be ensured in such a way that the international community gains confidence.”

Cavusoglu thinks of private security companies, “without recourse to any state military or police.”