Qatar helping Afghanistan to restore Kabul airport to its original form

Qatar, Sep 02: Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said that the Gulf country is working on the reopening of Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul with technical assistance from Turkey.

The airport operations were stopped after the last American troops left Afghanistan on Monday, ending the two-decade long war. The Hamid Karzai International Airport's infrastructure was damaged by the western forces as it evacuated lakhs of people in the last one month.

"We are working very hard (and) we remain hopeful that we will be able to operate it as soon as possible... Hopefully in the next few days we will hear some good news," Al Jazeera quotes the Qatar Foreign Minister as saying in a press conference that also had the presence of British counterpart Dominique Raab in Doha.

A technical team from Qatar has already landed in Kabul reportedly to restore the airport to its original form soon. The reopening of the flight service will help the war-torn country, which is reportedly facing a food crisis, to receive humanitarian aid and provide freedom of movement, including the resumption of evacuation efforts.

Over 123,000 civilians, including Afghans, were evacuated by the US and its ally after the Taliban returned to power after America withdrew its troops.

"Our immediate priority is to secure the safe passage of those remaining British nationals, but also the Afghans who worked for the United Kingdom, and indeed others who may be at most risk," Dominique Raab said.

Qatar facilitated a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban.

Meanwhile, a report on Al Jazeera has claimed that the price of the essential commodities have increased by 50% after the Taliban came to power, ousting Ashraf Ghani's government.

Afghanistan is going to face a food crisis soon as the United Nations stockpiles of food will be out of stock in September, as per Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN's humanitarian chief in Afghanistan. He warned that a third of the population are already going hungry and unsure whether or not they get their next meal.

Afghanistan's economy, which largely depended on foreign aid, is crushed after the US troops left the country and the Taliban takeover.