US-chartered evacuation flight that allows Afghans to flee Taliban are being suspended due to concerns the Islamist group might be using these planes for money laundering.
According to reports, the Taliban demanded multiple seats on any US-chartered Qatar Airways flight between Kabul and Doha to their fighters and support in order to fundraise abroad and return money to Afghanistan.
The dispute about whether Taliban planes can be used has caused the Islamist group to temporarily halt flights over the last three weeks. NBC News reports that there is no indication when the flights will resume.
Thousands of Afghans have been evacuated by Qatar Airways, the only carrier the Taliban have allowed to fly regularly out of Kabul, since the U.S. military withdrew and the Islamist group took power.
Over 74,000 Afghans are now in the US, and another 15,000 have been sent to the UK. But thousands of others remain vulnerable due to the suspension.
Afghans are preparing to evacuate Kabul Airport on August 18th aboard a Qatari transport aircraft
In an apparent effort to get funds overseas and to send money back to Afghanistan, the Taliban demanded that their supporters and fighters be allowed to board every US-chartered Qatar Airways flight between Kabul and Doha. Pictured: Qatari security personnel stands guard near a Qatar Airways aircraft at the airport in Kabul on September 9
A source from the US told NBC News that the Taliban used the aircrafts before they were stopped to transport Afghan migrant workers abroad to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This is as Afghanistan enters a humanitarian crisis.
They believe they ought to be given some of the seats in humanitarian flights, as the Taliban rule Afghanistan while the Qataris use their airfield.
The Islamists, however, stopped flights when Qatari officials, who had accused Taliban of harassing Afghan refugees at Kabul’s airport and keeping them away from board the flights with the Taliban, stated sources.
One or two charter planes per week used to fly to Qatar before the suspension.
Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, stated that Kabul Airport must remain open in order to provide safe passage and commerce, as well as urgent humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
“The Qataris were unfailingly generous, kind, and crucial partners in this work. We support the fastest resolution of any differences. We are continuing to push the Taliban for their safety passage obligations.
Two refugee advocates and a US State Department Official said the feud was between Qatari and Taliban.
A source close to the situation told NBC News, however that the Qataris were running some flights for the US in certain cases and that Washington is denying the Taliban seats.
Afghans climb on top of a plane to wait for their flight at Kabul Airport in Kabul, August 16, 2021. This was after the dramatic and swift ending to Afghanistan’s twenty-year war.
Sources also told The Times from sources that neither Qatari nor Taliban believes they are in dispute. According to them, they believe the US denied them the seats. This decision led the Taliban not only to cancel the flight but also caused it to be canceled.
NBC News was informed by a U.S. source that he could confirm the following: “I can verify for you, the U.S. has not been involved in this dispute,” he said. This remains between Qatari and Taliban.
As Afghanistan’s economy is on edge of collapse, it is unclear if the Taliban chose hardline fighters or symapthisers to flee.
According to a source, the Times was told by a source that the Taliban had not requested to let fighters and anyone from their group fly on passenger flights out to the country.
“The Taliban are seeking to let some Afghan citizens who have work permits in the Gulf return to their places of employment, which would be at odds with US policy.”
After the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, British and US troops were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan, Afghans had to be evacuated by military aircraft. They were then flown by airlines from European and Middle East bases to the United States under federal contracts.
Veteran groups have joined other organizations to find Afghan allies, such as translators who served with the U.S. military in Kabul after the fall of the capital to the Taliban.
Some don’t possess the immigrant visas intended for Afghans who assisted Americans in the twenty-year US military presence. The US also abandoned the embassy in August.
Many Afghans are desperate to flee after the Taliban seized power.
A UN report revealed that the Taliban had publicly executed dozens of Afghan prisoners since they took power in August. Pictured: Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 19, 2021
Earlier this month, a UN report revealed that the Taliban have beheaded or hanged dozens of prisoners and publicly displayed their bodies in extrajudicial killings.
According to the report, militants have also recruited child soldiers and undermined women’s rights in Afghanistan since August.
According to the UN Human Rights Council, more than 100 Afghan National Security Forces and others were killed in the aftermath of the coup.
Nada Al-Nashif (UN Deputy High Commissioner For Human Rights) stated that at least 50 members of Islamic State-Khorasan Province, an ideological foe to the Taliban, were also killed through hanging and beheading.
Al-Nashif stated that she is deeply disturbed by reports of these killings, even though a general amnesty was announced by the Taliban rulers following August 15.
Picutred: Taliban members patrol a second-hand shoes street market as seller waits for customers in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, December 12 2021
The Taliban forbade women to travel more than 45 miles without a male relative, and this was on Sunday.
Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ruled that women travelling long distances by themselves should not be allowed to be transported. It also demanded that only Islamic hijab-wearing Muslims be permitted to transport others.
This guidance was circulated via social media after the ministry requested that Afghanistan’s TV channels stop broadcasting dramas or soap operas featuring female actors.
It was also suggested that women journalists on TV wear hijabs during presentations.
The Taliban took power in August and have since imposed many restrictions on girls and women, even though they promised a more relaxed rule than their previous tenure in power, in the 1990s.
Local Taliban officials have been persuaded in several provinces to reopen schools, but it is still a difficult situation for many girls who are not able to access secondary education.
Mawlavi Shaikh Mohammed (R), Taliban’s Minister of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice listens to a ceremony during which the old office of Ministry of Women Affairs was renamed with the “The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, Kandahar Afghanistan 20 October 2021
Afghan women in burqas are seen in front of the beauty salon, which has images of spray painted women in Jalalabad (December 13, 2021).
The Islamist group released a decrement in the name and title of its supreme leader, instructing the government that women’s rights must be upheld.
It did not include information about girls having access to education.
Taliban have imposed new restrictions amid acute food shortages. The ongoing drought and reduction in aid packages are causing large portions of Afghanistan’s population food insecurity.
Necephor Mghendi, head of Afghanistan Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said drought is leading to ‘worrying food shortages, with around 22.8 million people – more than 55% of Afghanistan´s population – experiencing high levels of acute food shortages.’
Severe drought has affected more than 60% of the country´s provinces, ‘but there is no single province not affected since some are facing serious or moderate drought.’
He stated that if urgent actions aren’t taken, it will lead to a humanitarian crisis.
“It’s arguably the most serious humanitarian crisis currently in the world, and the saddest thing is that prompt and early intervention could have stopped it from getting worse.”