Al Jazeera
A technical team has been able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid and it would be prepared for civilian flights soon, according to Qatar’s ambassador to Afghanistan.
The runway at the Kabul airport has been repaired in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador added.
Meanwhile, at least 17 people were killed in celebratory gunfire in Kabul, news agencies and hospital sources said, as a Taliban spokesman criticised the aerial shootings in a statement.
“Avoid shooting in the air and thank God instead,” Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message on Twitter. “Bullets can harm civilians, so don’t shoot unnecessarily.”
The United States Congress is expected to finance the United Nations’ humanitarian work in Afghanistan but is unlikely to directly fund a new Taliban-led government, according to US officials, as the world body prepares to discuss aid for the war-torn country.
UN chief Antonio Guterres is travelling to Geneva to convene a high-level conference on aid for Afghanistan on September 13.
Even before the Taliban victory, Afghanistan was heavily aid-dependent, with 40 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) drawn from foreign funding.
The Taliban has yet to form a government, but there have been reports that an announcement is imminent.
Meanwhile, fighting continues between the Taliban and resistance fighters in Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, raising fears of more civilians being displaced.
