Afghanistan: first commercial flight to Kabul on Monday

The Pakistani airline PIA will be the first to fly to Kabul after the rise of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan: a spokesman for the company, Abdullah Hafeez Khan, announced today.

The first connection is scheduled for next Monday from Islamabad.

"We have all the technical clearances for air operations," the spokesperson said.

"Our first commercial aircraft, an Airbus A320, will take off from Islamabad for Kabul on 13 September."

The spokesman explained that so far the company has "received 73 requests" for the flight: "which is very encouraging", he added, noting that many of the requests come from humanitarian organizations and journalists wishing to travel to Kabul. In the last two days, Qatar Airways has operated two charter flights from Kabul airport to evacuate mainly foreign nationals who were still waiting to leave the country. Last week, an Afghan airline resumed internal connections.