PIA suspends Afghan operations over Taliban interference

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended flights to Kabul yesterday after what it called heavyhanded interference by Taliban authorities.

The suspension took place as the Taliban government ordered the airline, the only international carrier operating regularly out of the Afghan capital, to cut ticket prices to the levels of before the fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August.

“We are suspending our flight operations to Kabul from today because of the heavyhandedness of the authorities,” a PIA spokesman said.

“Our flights frequently faced undue delays because of the unprofessional attitude of the Kabul aviation authorities,” Abdullah Hafeez Khan, the PIA spokesman, told AFP.

The route will remain suspended until “the situation becomes conducive”, he added.

A source at the airline told AFP that Taliban officials were often “derogatory” and on one occasion “physically manhandled” a staff member.

Earlier, the Taliban warned the PIA and Afghan carrier Kam Air that their Afghan operations risked being blocked unless they agreed to cut prices that have spiralled out of the reach of most Afghans.

With most airlines no longer flying to Afghanistan, tickets for flights to Islamabad have been selling for as much as $2,500 on the PIA, according to travel agents in Kabul, compared with $120-$150 before.

Kam Air has been charging up to $1,600 for a single ticket.

The Afghan transport ministry said in a statement that prices on the route should “be adjusted to correspond with the conditions of a ticket before the victory of the Islamic Emirate” or the flights would be stopped.

It urged passengers and others to report any violations.

Flights between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been severely limited since Kabul airport was reopened last month in the wake of the chaotic evacuation of more than 100,000 Westerners and vulnerable Afghans following the Taliban victory.

The PIA, which runs chartered flights to Kabul rather than regular commercial services, said it had maintained the flights on humanitarian grounds.

The airline said the flight operation was “not very lucrative financially”.

“We would pay more than $400,000 as insurance premium, which could only be possible if 300 passengers are available,” Hafeez Khan said.

The high insurance premiums was due to the fact that Kabul was treated as a war zone by insurers.

No comment was immediately available from Kam Air.

The PIA said that ever since the new Taliban government was formed, its staff in Kabul had faced last-minute changes in regulations and flight permissions and intimidating behaviour from Taliban commanders.

It said that its country representative had been held at gunpoint for hours in one incident, and was only freed after the Pakistan embassy in Kabul intervened.