Qatar Airways charter flight with 30 US citizens departs Afghanistan under Taliban watch

A Qatar Airways charter flight carrying around 30 US citizens and seven permanent US residents departed Kabul on September 17, marking the latest departure from the country currently under Taliban authority.

US spokesman Ned Price congratulated Qatari authorities for organising flights out of the nation in a statement and acknowledged the Taliban's role.

"The international world applauds the Taliban's assistance on these flights, and we will continue to work with them to ensure that American people and Afghans have complete freedom of travel. We will continue to assist American individuals and Afghans linked with the US administration in leaving Afghanistan," said Price, according to Associated Press.

After meeting its August 31 deadline to remove troops from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has faced pressure to ensure that U.S. citizens and others who assisted the US government aren't left behind in Afghanistan.

"Grateful that more Americans were able to leave today on a Qatar Airways flight. We welcome this development," Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, said in a tweet.

In his next tweet, he added, "as President Biden said, there is no deadline for Americans remaining in Afghanistan. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come home.”

On September 9, Qatar Airways flew out of Kabul with the Taliban's participation, marking the first large-scale departure since US forces retreated on August 30. Since then, many commercial flights and charter flights, including one by Pakistan International Airlines, have flown out of Kabul International Airport to transport foreigners and Afghans trying to flee the Taliban.

Taliban's hardline reign 2.0

The Taliban declared an all-male provisional administration earlier this month, with no women or any of the country's minorities included in it. The 33-member Council is packed with veterans of the Taliban's hardline regime in the 1990s.

The Taliban's edict for boys and male educators to return to junior high and high schools contradicted the vows made earlier by Afghanistan's new authorities to ensure equal access to education for females.

The Taliban have so far only permitted women to work in the health sector and as teachers in grades one to five. Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban minister for higher education, announced in a news conference last week that schools would be gender segregated but that girls will have the same access to education as boys.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP