“From Doha, This is Kabul”: QAMA trips

Following Qatar’s mediation that facilitated coordination among all international stakeholders and played a pivotal role in resolving the operational crisis in Kabul Airport, the Qatari team, engaged in collaboration with the Taliban, achieved successful rehabilitation of the airport. They managed to repair the control tower and ensure the safe operation of local flights within five days.

On September 4, the first domestic flight departed for Mazar-Sharif, the most significant city in northern Afghanistan, and another flight set out to the western city of Herat.

Five days later, a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 departed from Kabul heading to Doha, marking the first international flight to leave Afghanistan since the US withdrawal and the Taliban rise in August 2021.

The Qatari Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution and Combating Terrorism, Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, made clear the trip was chartered and not a traditional airline flight, saying it was a historic day for Afghanistan. The Americans explained the flight was a US governmental one that conveyed aid to Kabul, and transported 113 passengers including 13 British citizens, two Dutch citizens, 10 Americans, and 11 green card holders as well as Canadians, Germans, and Ukrainians, back to Doha, according to statements by the foreign ministries.

In response, the White House released a statement expressing gratitude to the State of Qatar, elucidating that the successful trip was a product of “diplomacy and careful and serious engagement.” It further highlighted the Taliban’s cooperation, describing them as “practical and professional” in facilitating the departure of US citizens from the country.

For her part, the Dutch FM, Sigrid Kaag, published a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, sending thanks to Qatar, and the British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, for facilitating the trip.

The next afternoon, a second Qatar Airways plane took off from the airport towards Doha, carrying 156 passengers, including 19 Americans, 49 Frenchmen with their families, and 43 Canadians as well as British and Afghans.

A week later, a third passenger flight from Qatar Airways departed from Kabul international airport in Afghanistan, heading to Doha, carrying about 170 passengers, including Afghans, Americans, and Europeans.

As for the fourth plane, it left on September 19, and it also belonged to Qatar Airways, carrying more than 230 passengers, heading to Doha, marking the largest flight since the restart of the airport. The flight carried citizens from Afghanistan, the United States of America, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Finland, and the Netherlands.

On October 6, the French Foreign Ministry said in an official statement that a Qatar Airways passenger plane left Kabul international airport in Afghanistan heading to Doha, carrying 13 French citizens and their families.

A subsequent statement, two weeks later, detailed that Qatar, through its airlines, had conducted an evacuation operation for 15 French nationals and 21 Afghan men and women facing significant risks due to their association with the French state. The evacuation took place from Kabul airport to Doha.

According to the statement, Qatar helped the French state evacuate 124 people on five flights since September 12, including 59 French citizens, 33 dependents, a citizen of another EU member state, and 31 Afghan men and women.

On November 5, the French Foreign Ministry released a new statement, revealing that a Qatar Airways passenger plane had left Kabul Airport heading to Doha, carrying 39 Afghan men and women under protection.

A week later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that Qatar had funded at least 15 evacuation flights by Qatar Airways for hundreds of American citizens and others, and would continue to provide charter flights to special immigrant visa holders and other Afghans.

Then the French Foreign Ministry said again, on December 3, that a new plane had left Kabul Airport and headed to Doha, carrying 258 Afghan men and women under French protection, in addition to 11 Frenchmen, 60 Dutch people and their families. Thus, Qatar has helped the French state alone to evacuate 396 Afghan men and women under French protection, and 110 French nationals on 10 flights since September 10.

In sum, Qatar was able to establish the largest air bridge through which it secured the most difficult evacuation process, as US President Joe Biden described it, for western and Afghan nationals wishing to leave from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to Qatar, amounting to over 80 thousand people from 30 countries around the world, and through more than 60 flights, to about 25 different destinations, in coordination with the concerned countries and parties present in Afghanistan.

The Qatari role extended far beyond the evacuation process, with a majority of the evacuees staying as guests in Qatar for days. During this period, Qatar provided ideal shelter conditions, ensuring their well-being, before they proceeded on their journey to their final destinations.