Progress made on talks over Afghan airports with Qatar, Turkey

Kabul, Jan 29 (IANS) The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has reached an agreement with a joint Qatari and Turkish venture over the management of five airports in the war-torn nation, an official said here.

In a statement on Friday, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Imamuddin Ahmadi said: "The details have been discussed, a series of general decisions have been taken, but the talks are still ongoing and we are moving in a positive direction," TOLO News reported.

Meanwhile, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced that a trilateral meeting between Turkey, Qatar, and Taliban members on the issue was held in Doha on Thursday.

The Ministry said the three-party delegation agreed on "several key issues" on how to manage and operate Kabul Airport, without providing further details, reports TOLO News.

Mohammad Qasem Wafayeezada, former chairman of the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA), called on the Taliban to prepare the terms of the agreement in such a way as to provide a fair and equal basis for Qatari and Turkish companies to operate with domestic companies.

"If the contract is to be regulated from the beginning for the operating contract, the liability of the airlines should become a supervisory role over a period of two to three years," TOLO News quoted Wafayeezada as saying.

Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, regular commercial flights have been suspended in the country.

Now with the handover of the Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Mazar, and Mazar airports to foreign companies, optimism about the resumption of these flights has increased.