Taliban says negotiations ongoing with Turkiye, Qatar for operation of Afghan airports

By Serdar Bitmez, Ali Semerci

DOHA, Qatar (AA) - A Taliban spokesman in the Qatari capital of Doha told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that negotiations between the Afghan interim government along with Turkiye and Qatar have not stopped.

Mohammed Naim Wardak from the group’s political office said an agreement signed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) concerned ground operations at the Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat airports and the deal had a contract period of one-and-a-half years.

Wardak said the deal was struck with a UAE company providing services at the airport before the Taliban entered Kabul and it did not include the operation of airports.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 27 that the delegations from Qatar, Turkiye, and the interim Taliban government agreed on several issues regarding key issues about how the International Airport of Kabul would be managed and operated.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas in Ankara