DOHA (Al Jazeera/AFP) – Qatar has reached an agreement with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuation flights from Afghanistan, ending a dispute that resulted in a months-long pause, according to a report.
Axios news agency, citing an interview with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, reported that Qatar and the Taliban had agreed to operate two chartered Qatar Airways flights per week.
The agreement is expected to allow thousands of vulnerable Afghans and foreign citizens to be evacuated from the country following the chaotic withdrawal by United States troops and other foreign forces in August last year, when the Taliban took the capital, Kabul, following a lightning-fast offensive across the country.
Qatar had since September operated sporadic chartered flights from Kabul. However, those flights had stopped in early December amid a dispute with the Taliban over which passengers were being permitted on the flights, according to Reuters news agency. The first evacuation flight in months took off from Kabul bound for Doha on January 26, it reported.
The U.S. and other Western countries have been under pressure to increase the evacuation of Afghans who worked with foreign forces in the country and are considered particularly likely to be targeted by the Taliban.
Advocates say tens of thousands of Afghans with close ties to the U.S. military remain in the country.
On Monday, the United Nations said it had received credible reports of the killing by the Taliban of about 100 Afghans connected to the former government since the group came to power. Taliban rejected the report.
Rights groups said Tuesday the Taliban have arrested two Afghan journalists working for a local news channel, weeks after two women activists went missing.
The Afghan Media Association -- a newly formed journalists’ rights group -- said Ariana TV reporters Waris Hasrat and Aslam Hijab were picked up by the Taliban on Monday “and taken to an unknown location”.
Without naming the Taliban, an official at Ariana told AFP the reporters were seized by masked gunmen in front of the channel’s office as they went out for lunch.
He said Taliban officials “have assured us of a comprehensive investigation”.
Rights group Amnesty International demanded on Twitter that the Taliban “unconditionally and immediately release” the pair.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP he had no information on the missing journalists.
A fortnight ago, two women activists went missing after taking part in a demonstration in Kabul calling for women’s rights.
The Taliban have denied knowledge of their whereabouts and say they are investigating.