ISTANBUL: Private Turkish and Qatari companies have agreed to jointly operate five airports in Afghanistan, although they are still waiting to reach a final deal with the Taliban, officials said Tuesday. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that a “memorandum of understanding” had been inked in Doha earlier this month, covering Kabul and four other airports in the war-ravaged country.
Cavusoglu said the United Arab Emirates, which operated the civilian part of Kabul airport before the Taliban stormed back to power in August after two decades of war, had also expressed an interest in joining the Turkish and Qatari companies.
He said the issue was discussed during Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s visit to the Turkish capital Ankara in late November.
“They said ‘maybe we can run work trilaterally’ but there was never any concrete proposal,” said Cavusoglu. “We haven’t presented any proposal to them either. But operating the airport briefly appeared on the agenda.”
Turkish and Qatari officials have said little about the details of the memorandum of understanding, refusing to say which companies were to be involved.
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