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Friday, March 29, 2024

Emirates diverts its Kabul bound flight to Dubai as Taliban take Kabul

On Sunday as the Taliban took over in Kabul, Emirates flew back its Kabul bound flights to Dubai and flydubai has suspended all its flight operations to and from Afghanistan until further notice.

Emirates airline said a flight to Kabul on Sunday was diverted due to the temporary closure of the runway at the airport, while fellow Dubai state-owned carrier flydubai suspended services.

The Emirates Boeing 777-300 flight circled over the Afghanistan capital, aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 showed, before returning to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

“We are monitoring developments around the situation in Afghanistan and are working closely with all the relevant authorities to ensure the safe operation of our services,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

Read more: Taliban after victory enjoy feast in the governor’s house in Afghanistan

Flydubai said earlier that a Boeing 737 service to Kabul on Sunday returned to Dubai mid-flight and that the airline had suspended its services to the city until further notice.

The Taliban militant group entered Kabul earlier on Sunday.

Taliban capture Indian helicopter

Afghan Taliban captured an Indian Mi-35 gunship donated to the Afghan air force back in 2019 on Wednesday. This news came in the wake of the Taliban making huge swaths in the Afghan land by capturing provinces and capital cities to increase their clout.

The delivery of 2 Mi-24V attack helicopters to the Afghan Air Force brings to 12 the total number of gunships supplied by India since 2015. Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar handed over a pair of Mi-24V helicopters to acting Defence Minister Asadullah Khalid.

Read more: Taliban capture criminal warlord Dostum’s son

These helicopters are a replacement for the four helicopters gifted by India to [Afghanistan] in 2015/2016,” the Indian embassy had said. According to the July 2019 “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan” report published by the U.S. Department of Defense, India transferred four Mi-35s during 2015/2016 and four more during 2018.

US General John Campbell in 2018 said that India’s Mi-35 helicopters made a big difference to Afghanistan by giving the security forces much-needed lethal teeth in the wake of the offensive against the militants in the war-torn country.

Reuters with additional input by GVS News Desk