Turkey, Qatar to operate 5 airports in Afghanistan

Turkish and Qatari companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly operate five airports in Afghanistan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced yesterday.

“A delegation of experts will travel first to Doha and then to Kabul to discuss ways to operate Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport,” Cavusoglu said during a meeting with his Malaysian counterpart on the sidelines of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Cavusoglu added that the Turkish and Qatari delegations would present “joint proposals to the Taliban-led interim government in Afghanistan,” noting that the proposals would be discussed tomorrow.

“We will operate the airports jointly with Qatar if conditions are favourable,” Cavusoglu pointed out, stressing that there was no obligation on Tukrey “if our conditions are not met.”

The Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, confirmed that he had discussed with Cavusoglu “potential cooperation with the Afghan interim government on the management of the Kabul airport.”

The OIC summit was also reported to have discussed plans to build a new railway between Kabul to the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

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