Team News Riveting
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Thursday said it had suspended flights to Kabul over the “unprofessional attitude” of Taliban authorities and mistreatment of airliner staff.
A senior PIA official said that the flights frequently faced undue delays because of the unprofessional attitude of the Kabul aviation authorities and would remain suspended until “the situation becomes conducive.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that his government would investigate reports regarding the alleged mistreatment of PIA officials and passengers by authorities at Kabul international airport.
“We will investigate reports of maltreatment and will rectify it. All companies and businesses are very important for us. We adopt a positive approach [towards] Pakistani businesses,” Mujahid, who is also the Taliban government’s deputy information minister, told a Pakistani newspaper.
The development comes as Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Thursday asked the PIA and Afghan Kam Air to reduce fares on the Kabul-Islamabad route to previous levels or face a halt to their flight operations. Both airlines have not yet started commercial flights and operate chartered flights with high fares.
A letter from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation asked the PIA and Kam Air to bring down the airfare for Kabul-Islamabad flights to the level that existed before the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15.
