The Afghan Taliban interim government on Tuesday signed a deal to hand over the country's four key airports to a state-run United Arab Emirates company.
Control of the country’s airports is handed over to a company based in the United Arab Emirates by the Taliban. Statement from the prime minister’s office Tuesday.
Only logistics at the airports are covered in the deal while the security remains under the command of the Taliban. When Qatari engineering teams were working on the airport they were accompanied by their own private security.
“The current contract is only for offering ground handling services,” Hameedullah Akhundzada, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation said at a press conference.
“This will open the door for other countries” to invest, he said. “All countries that are interested in investing in Afghanistan, we can guarantee their security.”
This agreement would bring the communities of business in Afghanistan and also airline companies back.
“The international airlines which have been away from this country in the last few months will come back to us,” he told journalists.
The facilities are completely handover to the companies which have technological expertise to rebuild the previous name and start operating the international airport, this could be the first step toward the resumption of foreign flights more than nine months since the Taliban takeover.
Afghan carriers Ariana and Kam Air are currently operating as international airports in Afghanistan.
Engineering teams were provided by Qatar for the repair of navigation and radio systems of Afghan airlines that helps the airlines to resume service. But without a fully functioning radar, the insurance costs associated with using the Kabul airport make commercial operations largely unviable.
There is a spiraling economic crisis in Afghanistan, and some Taliban officials have called for international investment to ease unemployment and inflation. But for most companies and banks, economic sanctions on Taliban leaders are the most significant barrier to investment.
So the deal was made, which will bring the foreign investment to Afghanistan. Under the deal, the control and management of four international airports Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif will be handed over to the UAE aviation company, according to the state-run Bakhtar News Agency.
The ceremony was attended by acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the Afghan and United Arab Emirates officials.
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