The United Nations Security Council has urged for an immediate end to hostilities while also calling “all countries” to take in refugees and cease deportation of Afghans already in their countries.
AS the world watched the chaos at Kabul airport where hundreds of Afghans try to flee the Afghanistan capital, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has activated its contingency team.
As the Taliban took control of the capital on Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled with no interim government in place. Civilians saw no other choice but to flee the capital.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport became the only way out for many civilians seeking to escape the militant group.
The Afghanistan airspace (Kabul FIR) also serves major traffic flows between Europe and Asia.
Amid the chaos, the US military took control of the facility hoping to evacuate American personnel and Afghans who worked for the US and now fear Taliban retribution.
IATA announced the airspace is open only to military and advised civilian planes to avoid it.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has activated the Contingency Coordination Team (CCT), a standard protocol during such situations that combines the resources of ICAO and IATA in the regions involved, all affected States, and Eurocontrol.
According to the IATA, the neighboring countries have expressed their readiness to accommodate extra air traffic.
“The use of alternative routes through these states will provide safe and secure operations, but will have time, operational, and fuel impacts upon airlines,” the IATA said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council has urged for an immediate end to hostilities while also calling “all countries” to take in refugees and cease deportation of Afghans already in their countries.
“Afghans have known generations of war & hardship. They deserve our full support,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter. “Now is the time for solidarity.”
Videos of the mayhem at Kabul airport have been shared online including an instance where people were running parallel to a military aircraft as it taxied on the runway.
The US military has temporarily put on hold its evacuation process to clear the airfield of the crowd.
Tags: #Afghanistan, #KabulAirport, #Talibantakeover, #refugees, #InternationalAirTransportAssociation