Kabul airport could receive flights in the coming days, Qatari envoy says

Two domestic flights flew from the capital’s airport to the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar, bin Mubarak Al-Khayarin Al-Hajar confirmed. A team of Qatari technicians are carrying out repairs at the airport, which could start receiving flights in the coming days, the statement added. The airport has not been operational since There are three parties engaged in discussions to resume operations at Kabul airport, the source said. Qatar is also working closely with the international community, particularly those embassies relocated to Doha from Kabul, including the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan, to provide safe corridors and freedom of movement for those in Afghanistan and continue cooperation in the fight against terrorism to prevent any future instability in the region, the source added.Meanwhile, clashes have continued in several parts of the Panjshir Valley in northern Afghanistan, the last province holding out against the Islamist takeover. Fighters of the National Resistance Front (NRF), a multi-ethnic group that includes former Afghan security force members and reportedly numbers in the thousands, have been battling a Taliban offensive for the past two weeks.Panjshir Valley, a mountainous, inaccessible region north of Kabul, has a long history of resisting the insurgent group. In the late 1990s, it was a center of resistance against the Taliban during their rule. A Taliban spokesman told CNN Saturday that its forces had made “considerable advances” and taken four districts of the mountainous province. The Taliban have attacked Panjshir from several directions and appear to be targeting the provincial capital, Bazarak. In Kabul, the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan party, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, issued a warning Friday to the population of Panjshir, which is largely Tajik. Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and veteran power broker in Afghanistan, said people should not sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others. Some people in Panjshir were resisting the Taliban for personal gain and if defeated, they could go to other countries, he continued. “Our Panjshiri brothers will be aware that the worst consequences of this war are on you more than anyone else. You will be harmed,” Hekmatyar told supporters in Kabul Friday, according to Afghan media. CNN’s Alex Marquart and Mick Krever contributed to this report.