Following months of negotiations, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed a deal with the Taliban to oversee the management of the Kabul airport, Reuters reported on Thursday. The agency noted that Qatar and Turkey’s joint bid to run the airport along with the Taliban had failed.
Sources told Reuters that an official announcement of the deal could be expected within weeks, with the UAE also set to run other airports in the country. The Taliban were adamant that the UAE must operate the Kabul airport and even rejected a proposed joint UAE-Qatar-Turkey deal to run the airport.
The report noted that while Abu Dhabi will take over operations, including logistics and security, Afghans will be employed at the airports, including for security roles. It said both sides also reached an agreement about providing security to the airports, wherein the Taliban have offered a contract to an Emirati security provider.
Sources have said Emirati airlines would resume flights to the war-torn country after the official announcement of the deal. The UAE suspended all flights to Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
In May, the Taliban signed an agreement with Emirati company GAAC corporation to oversee ground operations at the Kabul airport. GAAC was involved in running security and ground operations in Afghanistan before the Taliban’s takeover.
Turkey and Qatar had submitted a joint bid to run the airport. Therefore, the deal with Abu Dhabi is also a significant blow to Doha’s regional ambitions, according to Western officials, who told Reuters that the UAE “is keen to counter” Qatar’s influence in Afghanistan. Qatar has close ties with the Taliban and played an influential role in facilitating negotiations between the US and the Taliban. It was also instrumental in getting both sides to sign the 2020 Doha Agreement, under which the US agreed to withdraw its troops by 2021.
If true, this is a pretty significant diplomatic win for the UAE, edging out Turkey and/or Qatar in this pivotal role. As with all things Taliban, though, it comes with significant potential risks though. Because, maniacs. https://t.co/ozMEZB0y7P
— Hussein Ibish (@Ibishblog) July 7, 2022
The UAE was also part of a joint boycott of Qatar. In 2017, the Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting radical Islamist groups in the region and having warm relations with Iran.
The Taliban also stand to gain from the deal with Abu Dhabi as it would provide much-needed relief for the militants, whom the international community has isolated for not making progress on the human rights situation in the country.
Despite promising to respect the rights of minorities, and allow girls to attend schools, the Taliban have not only failed to keep its promise but also taken steps that threaten to reverse any progress made. In February, they banned girls from attending high school and in May ordered all women to cover their faces in public.
In fact, the Taliban have taken several steps to drastically reduce women’s rights and freedoms, particularly with regard to education, employment, travel, and dress code. These moves have put the group at odds with the international community, which has been urging it to take measures to protect minorities, women, and children as a precondition for any recognition of its government and relaxation of sanctions.