Sept 13, 2021: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying a handful of passengers crashed at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday. This is the first international trade flight to land in Kabul since the Taliban took over.

About a month after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the first international commercial flight arrived in Kabul on Monday.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying a handful of passengers crashed at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport Monday, according to AFP. “There was hardly anyone on the plane, about 10 people … maybe more crew than passengers,” said an AFP reporter on a flight from Islamabad.

A spokesman for the airline told AFP that PIA wanted to resume regular commercial services between Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, he said it would be too early to say how often the flights would work.

After the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, many commercial airlines refused to fly over Afghan airspace. Only evacuation flights were allowed to use Kabul Airport during this period.

Kabul Airport was at the center of the US-led evacuation as more than 120,000 people, including many Afghans, fled the country in a hurry.

The withdrawal ended on August 30 with the withdrawal of US troops. After taking control of Kabul airport, the Taliban sought technical assistance from Qatar and Turkey to reactivate the airport. According to AFP, Qatar Airways operated several charter flights from Kabul last week, mostly foreigners and Afghans who were not evacuated before August 30.

An Afghan airline resumed domestic services on September 3.

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