Pakistan evacuates more Afghan citizens as special flight lands at Islamabad airport

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has evacuated 231 Afghan citizens from Kabul airport via a special flight that landed at Islamabad airport on Monday amid changing situation in the Afghan capital in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover, ARY NEWS reported.

According to sources having knowledge of the flight operation, a special flight landed at Islamabad airport amid strict security measures, bringing back 231 Afghan citizens.

They were later boarded to a special flight for Turkey, the sources said.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) cancelled flight operations for Kabul after it planned to operate three more flights today to the Afghan capital to evacuate people.

According to a PIA spokesman, the national flag carrier planned three flights for Kabul today to expedite the evacuation process, however, all these flights have been cancelled now.

The European Union (EU) has also sought help from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for the evacuation of stranded EU delegation employees in Kabul.

The EU’s special envoy to Pakistan wrote a letter to the CEO PIA, Arshad Malik, requesting the repatriation of 420 passengers stranded in Kabul.

“At this stage, we would ask for a flight from Kabul airport to Islamabad International Airport for direct further transit to EU through another aircraft made available by EU,” read the letter by European Union.

Similarly, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also written a letter to the CEO of PIA requesting for early evacuation of the staff of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from Kabul.