First PIA’s flight since foreign troop withdrawal lands at Kabul airport

First PIA’s flight since foreign troop withdrawal lands at Kabul airport!

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has become the first international commercial flight to touch down at Kabul airport since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August.

The PIA flight carrying a handful of passengers from Islamabad to Kabul touched down earlier today.

Boeing 777 aircraft departed Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, at 6:45 a.m. local time after special arrangements had been made by Afghanistan’s civil aviation authorities and PIA’s staff.

PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan said in a statement that the service was a “special flight” to create “goodwill” with the people of Afghanistan and to “strengthen humanitarian efforts.”

Foreign journalists traveled into the Afghan capital on the flight while employees of the World Bank were brought back to Islamabad on the return leg, the spokesman told CNN.