1st International Flight Leaves Kabul Since US Withdrawal

A commercial flight took off from Kabul airport on Thursday for the first time since US withdrawal in August.

It has not been revealed how many Americans were on board the Qatar Airways flight or the nationalities of the other passengers.

A US official and a source aware of the matter had earlier said the Taliban had cleared around 200 people, including American citizens, to fly out.

In this sense, live  pictures showed people boarding the flight on Thursday afternoon Kabul time; earlier, Qatari and Taliban officials were seen touring the airport tarmac, where the Qatar Airways Boeing 777 stood.

Several passengers waiting to check into the flight earlier said their final destination was Canada. "We are going to Canada, we are Canadians," one man told reporters at the airport in English. Another two men also said they were bound for Canada.

On his part, Taliban's acting foreign minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaki, thanked Qatari special envoy Mutlaq Al-Qahtani for his country's efforts in restarting flights out of Kabul International Airport, the group said in a statement posted on an official account.

Moreover, a US official told CNN that the Taliban's agreement for the 200 or so people to leave on the charter flight Thursday came after US Special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had been pressing the Taliban to allow departures.