Taliban to sign contract with UAE’s GAAC holding company for airspace control of Afghan airports

KABUL, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The Taliban government announced on Thursday that they would sign the third and final major contract to operate Afghanistan’s airports with the United Arab Emirates’ GAAC Holdings.

The contract will last for 10 years, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Ghulam Jelani Popal told reporters at a news conference in Kabul.

He added that the group has signed a contract with the UAE government-linked GAAC for ground services and security.

The agreements will help the Taliban ease their isolation from the outside world, no foreign country formally recognizes their government, and strict enforcement of sanctions would hamper the economy. It will also allow Abu Dhabi to gain influence in a diplomatic dispute with Qatar. read more

This will encourage major international airlines to return to Afghanistan, GAAC general manager and regional director Ibrahim Moarafi told reporters in Kabul.

“We believe this is a significant development,” he said. “We also believe this is a significant development as it will bring economic benefits in terms of job creation.”

The Taliban government, still an international pariah and not officially recognized, has approached regional powers including Qatar and Turkey to operate Kabul airport, landlocked Afghanistan’s main air link to the world, and more.

But sources told Reuters in July that after months of back-and-forth negotiations and at one point raising the prospect of a joint UAE-Turkey-Qatar deal, the Taliban decided in recent months to hand over the business entirely to the UAE.

Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexandra Hudson

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