PIA suspends Afghan operations citing Taliban interference

The suspension got here because the Taliban authorities ordered the airline, the one worldwide firm working recurrently out of Kabul, to chop ticket costs to ranges seen earlier than the autumn of the Western-backed Afghan authorities in August.

“We’re suspending our flight operations to Kabul from at present due to the heavy handedness of the authorities,” Reuters quoted a spokesman as saying.

A spokesman stated that operations have been suspended for an “unspecified interval” and that the choice was taken within the backdrop of “inappropriate behaviour” demonstrated by Afghan authorities.

Undesirable situations for the operation of worldwide flights in Kabul and the Taliban authorities’s “final minute adjustments in selections” are additionally a part of the rationale PIA made the transfer, the spokesman added.

PIA stated it has determined that no plane will go to Kabul with out insurance coverage.

Earlier, the Taliban warned PIA and Afghan service Kam Air that their Afghan operations risked being blocked until they agreed to chop ticket costs, which have reached ranges more and more out of attain for many Afghans.

With most worldwide airways now not flying to Afghanistan, tickets for flights to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, have been promoting for as a lot as $2,500 on PIA, in line with journey brokers in Kabul, in contrast with $120-$150 earlier than.

The Afghan transport ministry stated in a press release costs on the route ought to “be adjusted to correspond with the situations of a ticket earlier than the victory of the Islamic Emirate” or the flights can be stopped.

It urged passengers and others to report any violations.

Flights between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been severely restricted since Kabul airport was reopened final month within the wake of the chaotic evacuation of greater than 100,000 Westerners and susceptible Afghans following the Taliban victory.

PIA stated that ever for the reason that new Taliban authorities was fashioned, its employees in Kabul had confronted last-minute adjustments in rules and flight permissions and “extremely intimidating behaviour” from Taliban commanders.

It stated its nation consultant had been held at gunpoint for hours at one level and was solely freed after the Pakistan embassy in Kabul intervened.

With a mounting financial disaster including to worries about Afghanistan’s future beneath the Taliban, there was heavy demand for flights out and the principle passport workplace in Kabul has been besieged by individuals attempting to get journey paperwork because it reopened this month.

Demand for flights has been additional pushed by repeated difficulties at land border crossings into Pakistan.