United Arab Emirates To Run Kabul Airport In Deal With Taliban: Report

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The Taliban and the United Arab Emirates are ready to reach an agreement for the Gulf nation to run the Kabul Airport and several others in Afghanistan which can be announced within a few weeks, according to sources who are familiar with negotiations.

The agreement will help the Islamic militant alleviate their isolation from the outside world because they rule the poor country covered by drought, widespread hunger and economic crisis.

The agreement will also give Abu Dhabi victory in his diplomatic struggle with Qatar for influence with the new Afghan rulers.

The Taliban, whose administration remains an international paria without formal recognition, has supported regional power, including Qatar and Turkey, to operate Kabul Airport, Afghan’s main air relations that are locked in land with the world, and others.

But after months of conversation back and forth, and at one point increasing the likelihood of an agreement with the UAE-Turkey-Qatar, the Taliban will submit the overall operation to the UAE, which previously runs Afghanistan airport, the source said.

Under an agreement with the UAE, Afghanistan will be employed at the airport, including in the role of security, a very important criterion for the Taliban who firmly opposes the existence of foreign troops, the source said.

The contractor connected to the state of Emirati will also provide security services, while talks continue on the management of Afghanistain airspace, they said.

Gaac who was connected to the state of Emirati, who was involved in running security and land management services at Afghanistan airport before the Taliban takeover, was awarded a land handling contract in May immediately after Taliban officials visited Abu Dhabi.

Emirati officials did not have direct comments when contacted by Reuters. Gakac did not respond to a comment request.

A spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Transportation confirmed that the flight security contract had been signed with the UAE but said the air traffic contract had not been completed or confirmed.

The source said the UAE airline, which had not yet flown to Afghanistan since the takeover of the Taliban last year, is expected to continue the flight to Kabul and maybe other Afghan Airports after the agreement was completed.

In the months before the land service contract award, the Taliban repeatedly made changes that could not be explained in his team negotiating with Qatar and Turkey, the source said.

Then the Taliban tried to change the agreed requirements by increasing airport costs and taxes and weakening Qatar and Turkish control over the collection of income, they added.

A Qatar official did not have direct comments when contacted by Reuters. A Turkish official, spoke on anonymous condition, the conversation confirmed with the Taliban had stopped “some time ago”.

There is a slight direct commercial benefit in airport operations that lead to significant security challenges, but Kabul Airport will provide the main intelligence source about the movement of entering and leaving the country, said Western officials.

UAE negotiations are part of a calm but firm effort by Abu Dhabi to expand old relations with Afghan rulers who have included government assistance and diplomatic efforts in a few months since the militants took over power.

Western officials said Abu Dhabi looked at Afghanistan, who shared the border of large land with the neighboring Bay of UAE Iran, as part of his wider backyard and thus believed that he had legal interests in the country’s political and economic stability.

Western officials also said that the UAE wanted to fight the influence in Afghanistan Qatar, a Gulf state praised by Western countries for serving as a gateway to the Taliban but Abu Dhabi’s rival in the contest for regional influence.

Western officials are worried that the competition is now playing in Afghanistan. UAE, together with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, decided on relationships with Qatar from 2017 to 2021 as part of a long and bitter dispute between the two rich