Domestic flights were set to resume in Afghanistan on Friday, the country's flag carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines said.
"We have received a green light from the Taliban and aviation authorities and plan to start flights today," Tamim Ahmadi, a senior manager with the airline told AFP.
The Kabul airport has remained shut since Aug. 31 after the United States fully withdrew its troops following 20 years of presence, but international efforts are under way to resume operations there to facilitate humanitarian assistance and further evacuations.
After the Taliban took full control of Kabul airport on Tuesday, they declared Afghanistan a “free and sovereign” nation after the US ended its 20 years of occupation, cementing the group’s return to power after their ouster in 2001.
Speaking to reporters at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid hailed Washington’s withdrawal as an “historic moment” while pledging to bring security to the war-torn country and “protect our freedom, independence, and Islamic values.”
But many Afghans remain skeptical, and tens of thousands have fled the country in the past two weeks, amid fears that the Taliban will reinstate their hardline form of governance as they did during their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, before being toppled in an American-led invasion.
More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in the Western airlift after the Taliban seized the city on Aug. 15, but tens of thousands at risk remained behind
