Turkish Airlines cancels flights to Afghanistan as Taliban takes over

Photo: AA

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Flights were suspended at Afghanistan's main international airport in Kabul as crowds of people anxiously waited at its gates in hopes to leave the country.

A day after Afghanistan's capital fell to the Taliban, US and Afghan forces surrounded the airport, along with Taliban fighters as gunshots were fired into the air to disperse the crowd.

Turkish Airlines (THY) also announced that it canceled flights to Afghanistan. The flag carrier had sent a plane to Afghanistan for citizens of Turkey who wanted to leave the country following the Taliban's takeover. The plane took off from the Kabul airport with 324 passengers this morning.

The media office of Hamid Karzai International Airport said in a statement that all civilian flights from the airport had been suspended. The statement called on citizens not to "invade the square" and to "prevent looting."

Citing "official sources," the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that the US forces were in control of the airport. Turkey is willing to run and guard the airport after the US withdrawal but the Taliban has opposed the plan.

The Taliban, for their part, urged people gathered at the airport to "go home." Taliban leaders at the site announced that "civilians will not be harmed."

"The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) has ordered its Mujahideen and once again instructed them that no one is allowed to enter anyone's house without permission. Life, property, and honor of none shall be harmed but must be protected by the Mujahideen," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter. (HA/VK)