Afghan Police Back At Work Alongside Taliban At Airport

KABUL: Afghan police at Kabul Airport have returned to work post-guard checkpoints with the security of Taliban for the first time since Islamis seized power, said the weekend.

When the Taliban swept Kabul last month overthrew the government, the police left their posts, fear of what Islamists would do.

But two officers said they had returned to work on Saturday after receiving a call from the Taliban commander.

On Sunday, AFP correspondent at the airport saw members of the border police deployed at several checkpoints outside the airport building, including the domestic terminal.

“I returned to work yesterday more than two weeks after being sent home,” one of the members of the police told AFP, spoke with the terms of anonymity.

“I received a call from the Taliban senior commander who asked me to return,” said another officer.

“Great yesterday, very happy to serve again.”

Taliban said they had given public amnesty to all those who worked for former government – including soldiers, police and other security branches.

Officials say they want to integrate opponent’s strength, but have not described how this will happen – or how they will maintain security apparatus consisting of around 600,000 people.

Kabul airport was badly damaged during a chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people ended with the withdrawal of US troops on August 30.

The Taliban, who swept Kabul after fluttering government forces on August 15, had scrambled to get the capital of the capital operating again with Qatar’s technical assistance.

The United Arab Emirates have established air bridges to provide a lot of help to Afghanistan, by plane carrying hundreds of tons of medical supplies and food.

A airport employee who handles security for a private company confirm that the border police have been deployed around the airport since Saturday.

“They share security with the Taliban,” he told AFP.

Qatar Airways has operated charter flights from Kabul in recent days, mostly carrying foreigners and Afghans who skip evacuations.

Afghan airlines continued domestic flights last week, while Pakistan International Airlines are expected to start flights from Islamabad to Kabul in the coming days.