United Arab Emirates set to run Kabul airport in deal with Taliban
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
January 27, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
United Arab Emirates set to run Kabul airport in deal with Taliban

World+Biz

Reuters
07 July, 2022, 08:25 pm
Last modified: 07 July, 2022, 08:31 pm

Related News

  • Deputy UN chief pushes women's rights during visit to Taliban heartland
  • UN deputy secretary-general in Kabul for talks on women's education, work
  • Kabul's mannequins, hooded and masked under Taliban rules
  • US Republicans probe chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
  • Australia withdraw from ODI series against Afghanistan in March due to Taliban's' further restrictions on women and girls' rights

United Arab Emirates set to run Kabul airport in deal with Taliban

Reuters
07 July, 2022, 08:25 pm
Last modified: 07 July, 2022, 08:31 pm
Taliban soldiers stand in front of a sign at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 9, 2021. Photo :Reuters
Taliban soldiers stand in front of a sign at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 9, 2021. Photo :Reuters

The Taliban and the United Arab Emirates are poised to strike a deal for the Gulf nation to run Kabul airport and several others in Afghanistan that could be announced within weeks, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

An agreement would help the Islamist militants ease their isolation from the outside world as they govern an impoverished country beset by drought, widespread hunger and economic crisis.

The deal would also hand Abu Dhabi a win in its diplomatic tussle with Qatar for influence with Afghanistan's new rulers.

The Taliban, whose government remains an international pariah without formal recognition, have courted regional powers, including Qatar and Turkey, to operate Kabul airport, landlocked Afghanistan's main air link with the world, and others.

But after months of back-and-forth talks, and at one point raising the possibility of a joint UAE-Turkey-Qatar deal, the Taliban is set to hand the operations in their entirety to the UAE, who had previously run Afghan airports, the sources said.

Under the deal with the UAE, Afghans will be employed at the airports, including in security roles, a criteria that was crucial to the Taliban who staunchly oppose the presence of foreign forces, sources said.

An Emirati state-linked contractor would also provide security services, while talks continue on the management of Afghanistain's airspace, they said.

Emirati state-linked GAAC, which was involved in running security and ground handling services at Afghan airports before the Taliban takeover, was awarded the ground handling contract in May soon after Taliban officials visited Abu Dhabi.

SECURITY CONTRACT
Qatar and Turkey's joint negotiations with the Taliban broke down around the same time, sources said.

Emirati officials had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. GAAC did not respond to a request for comment.

A Taliban transport ministry spokesman confirmed an aviation security contract had already been signed with the UAE but said the air traffic contract was not finalised or confirmed yet.

The sources said UAE airlines, which have not flown to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover last year, were expected to resume flights to Kabul and possibly other Afghan airports after the deal was finalized.

In the months leading up to the ground services contract award, the Taliban repeatedly made unexplained changes to its team negotiating with Qatar and Turkey, the sources said.

Then the Taliban sought to alter agreed terms by upping airport fees and taxes and weaken Qatar and Turkey's control over revenue collection, they added.

A Qatari official had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed talks with the Taliban had stopped "some time ago".

There is little direct commercial benefit in the airport operations which pose significant security challenges, but Kabul airport would provide a key source of intelligence on movements in and out of the country, Western officials say.

The UAE'S negotiations are part of a quiet but assertive effort by Abu Dhabi to expand longstanding ties with Afghanistan's rulers that has included government aid and diplomatic efforts in the months since the militants took power.

GULF RIVALRIES
Western officials say Abu Dhabi views Afghanistan, which shares a large land border with UAE's Gulf neighbour Iran, as part of its wider backyard and so believes it has legitimate interests in the country's political and economic stability.

Western officials also say the UAE is keen to counter the influence in Afghanistan of Qatar, a Gulf state lauded by Western nations for serving as gateway to the Taliban but a rival of Abu Dhabi's in a contest for regional influence. 

Western officials worry that that rivalry is now playing out in Afghanistan. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, cut ties with Qatar from 2017 until 2021 as part of a long-running, bitter dispute between the two rich Gulf states that was largely resolved last year.

Qatar has hosted the Taliban's political office in Doha, long one of few places to meet the militants and where the United States negotiated with the militants to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Qatar also helped run Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport after the collapse of the Western-backed government last August. Its state-owned Qatar Airways operated charter flights and Qatari special forces provided security on the ground.

But Qatar's relationship with the Taliban now appears to strained, according to Western officials who say the militants have become wary of being too dependent on any one nation.

Middle East / South Asia

Kabul Airport / United Arab Emirates / Taliban

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Global central banks preaching on pay are enforcing squeeze too
    Global central banks preaching on pay are enforcing squeeze too
  • Infograph: TBS
    State banks spend 80% of their forex for govt imports in H1
  • Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
    Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Development partners commit $30 billion to food production in Africa
  • Picture: Collected
    Norway finds 'substantial' mineral resources on its seabed
  • Global central banks preaching on pay are enforcing squeeze too
    Global central banks preaching on pay are enforcing squeeze too
  • Myanmar soldiers take part in a military parade to mark the 74th Armed Forces Day in the capital Naypyitaw, on March 27, 2019. Photo:Reuters
    Two years after Myanmar coup, UN says situation 'catastrophic'
  • FILE PHOTO Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government in a coup, presides at an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021. REUTERSStringerFile Photo
    Myanmar army set to cement rule with tough new election rules
  • FILE PHOTO: People walk past the Central Bank headquarters in Moscow, Russia February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
    Russian banking profits could exceed 1 trillion roubles in 2023, says c.bank

Related News

  • Deputy UN chief pushes women's rights during visit to Taliban heartland
  • UN deputy secretary-general in Kabul for talks on women's education, work
  • Kabul's mannequins, hooded and masked under Taliban rules
  • US Republicans probe chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
  • Australia withdraw from ODI series against Afghanistan in March due to Taliban's' further restrictions on women and girls' rights

Features

Sketch:TBS

Why we need consumer education for consumer wellbeing

7h | Thoughts
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute. Illustration: TBS

Twin shocks call for stronger domestic policy response

8h | Thoughts
December-er shohor, taxi taken for airport and the Park Street bathed in lights. Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

Exploring Kolkata on foot, empowered by Google Maps

8h | Explorer
Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

10h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

22h | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

23h | TBS Stories
PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

1d | TBS SPORTS
Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

1d | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net