Kabul airport reopens to receive aid, domestic flights resume operations: Report 

In a significant development, Afghanistan's Kabul Airport resumed operations and domestic flights between three of its provincial capitals on Sunday. The Hamid Karzai International Airport had been shut down since the chaotic exit of the United States from the war-torn nation on August 31. As per Afghanistan's Ariana News, a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital’s airport for aid and domestic services on Sunday. 

According to a statement by Ariana Afghan Airlines, flights between Kabul and the western city of Herat, Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south have re-opened. “Ariana Afghan Airlines is proud to resume its domestic flights,” it said.

Earlier this week, Qatar's ambassador to Afghanistan had revealed that a technical team was working on Kabul airport and that it would be prepared for civilian flights soon. The runway at the airport was repaired in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, according to Al Jazeera. The Qatari news channel reported that two domestic flights had already operated from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar.

Chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport 

The Taliban had assumed full control of the Kabul Airport on August 31 after the last US plane left the runway. The Hamid Karzai International Airport had witnessed heart-wrenching scenes during the evacuation operations as desperate Afghans tried to flee the Taliban regime. Civilians had attempted to run behind US military planes taking off from the tarmac and hang from its wings to escape the Taliban. The airport had also witnessed one of the worst attacks against US servicemen on Afghan soil in recent times after 13 US Marines and officers lost their lives in subsequent suicide bombings that left more than 170 Afghans dead. 

After the US completed its withdrawal process on August 31, the Taliban had shut down the airport, closing the vital lifeline for anyone who was left stranded behind. US President Joe Biden had informed that over 120,000 US, foreign and Afghan citizens had been evacuated from Afghanistan. Ending the airlift mission as planned was the best way to protect the lives of troops, and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead, Biden had remarked. 

(With Agency Inputs)