Islamabad: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced the suspension of flights from Kabul, accusing the Taliban of “heavy-handed” interference, according to news agencies. The Taliban government had ordered Pakistan’s national flag carrier to cut prices to the levels when it was operating during the Western-backed Afghan government. PIA accused the Sunni Pashtun group, which announced an interim government last month, of arbitrary rule changes and intimidation of staff.
"We are suspending our flight operations to Kabul from today because of the heavy-handedness of the authorities," a news agency quoted PIA spokesperson as saying. PIA was the only international commercial airline operating on a regular basis out of Kabul. The airline had initially said that it would only operate chartered flights following requests from some international institutions and missions.
"Honestly, there will be some way for the evacuees to fly back before regular flights are resumed. At best, ours would be charter operations, operating on behest of certain customer demands who want to get their people out of Kabul," PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan was quoted as saying.
Days after PIA's denial of resuming commercial flights to Kabul, the airline landed the first commercial international flight at Hamid Karzai International Airport since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan.