Scores of Westerners, finally flying from Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a commercial flight out of Kabul on Thursday, the first such large-scale departure since U.S. and other forces completed their frantic withdrawal over a week ago.

The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked a breakthrough in the bumpy coordination between the U.S. and Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers. A dayslong standoff over charter planes at another airport has left dozens of passengers stranded.

A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media, provided the number of Westerners on the Qatar flight and said two senior Taliban officials helped facilitate the departure — the new foreign minister and deputy prime minister.

Americans, U.S. green card holders and other nationalities, including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians, were aboard, the official said.

Qatari envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani said another 200 passengers will leave Afghanistan on Friday. A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, also because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said foreigners, including Americans, will depart in the next couple of days.

It was not immediately clear how many Americans were on board Thursday and how many were still in Afghanistan.

The White House said before the flight that there were roughly 100 American citizens left in Afghanistan. But several veterans groups have said that number is too low, off by perhaps hundreds. And they said it overlooks green-cardcarrying permanent residents who lived in the U.S. for years and should also be evacuated.

Many thousands of Afghans remain desperate to get out, afraid of what Taliban rule might hold. The Taliban have repeatedly said foreigners and Afghans with proper travel documents could leave. But their assurances have been meet with skepticism, even with the departure of the Qatar flight.

U.S. lawmakers, veterans groups and others are pressing the Biden administration to ensure that former Afghan military interpreters and others who could be in danger of Taliban reprisals for working with the Americans are allowed to leave.

As Taliban authorities patrolled the tarmac on Thursday, passengers presented their documents for inspection and dogs sniffed luggage laid out on the ground. Some veteran airport employees had returned to their jobs after fleeing during the harrowing chaos of the U.S.-led airlift.

Irfan Popalzai, 12, boarded the flight with his mother and five brothers and sisters. He said his family lives in Maryland.

“I am an Afghan, but you know I am from America and I am so excited” to leave, he said.

Before the airliner took off, Qatari officials gathered on the tarmac to announce the airport was ready for the resumption of international commercial flights after days of repairs.

Extensive damage in the frenzied final days of the U.S. airlift that evacuated over 100,000 people had raised questions about how soon regular commercial service could resume. Experts from Qatar and Turkey have been racing to restore operations.

“I can clearly say that this is a historic day in the history of Afghanistan as Kabul airport is now operational,” al-Qahtani said.

“Call it what you want, a charter or a commercial flight, everyone has tickets and boarding passes,” he added. “Hopefully, life is becoming normal in Afghanistan.”

The flight was the first to take off from Kabul since American forces left the country at the end of August.