Turkish-Qatari officials travel to Kabul to discuss airport operation with Taliban

Turkish and Qatari officials will meet in Doha on Monday night and later travel together to Kabul to discuss a formal agreement on the operation of the Afghan capital’s airport with the Taliban, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoγlu. with Reuters.

It is noted that Turkey has stated that it is open to the operation of Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport together with Qatar, after the occupation of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August, but only if its security demands are met.

Kabul Airport is Afghanistan’s main air link with the world, at a time when millions of people in the country are facing starvation with the harsh winter beginning. On Sunday, Islamic countries pledged to set up a trust fund for Afghanistan.

Ankara is in talks with Doha for Kabul airport and has said it is working with Qatar to maintain its operation. Reuters has reported that the United Arab Emirates has also held talks with the Taliban over the operation of the airport.

Cavusoglu said a Turkish company and a Qatari company had signed a memorandum of understanding to operate a total of five airports in Afghanistan, including Hamid Karzai, but did not name the other four.

“In this context, we will present joint offers to the Afghan government. Our colleagues are heading to Doha tonight and from there they will travel together to Kabul to discuss the issue with the Afghan government,” he told a news conference in Ankara.

“If our conditions are met, we can operate the airports with Qatar. If the conditions are not met, there is no obligation for us to operate them,” he said.

Tsavousoglu also said that a possible joint visit to Kabul with foreign ministers of other Islamic countries is under discussion.

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Source From: Capital

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