The Taliban and the United Arab Emirates are close to reaching an agreement for the Gulf country to manage Kabul airport and several others in Afghanistan that could be announced within weeks, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
A deal would help Islamist militants reduce their isolation from the outside world as they rule an impoverished country ravaged by drought, widespread hunger and economic crisis.
The deal would give Abu Dhabi a victory in its diplomatic struggle with Qatar to influence Afghanistan’s new leadership.
The Taliban, whose government again has formal recognition as a foreign pariah, have courted regional powers, adding Qatar and Turkey, to operate Kabul airport, Afghanistan’s main landlocked air link to the world, and others.
But after months of back and forth, and at some point raising the option of a joint agreement between the UAE, Turkey and Qatar, the Taliban are about to hand over full operations to the UAE, which in the past controlled Afghan airports, resources said.
As part of the deal with the United Arab Emirates, Afghans will be hired at airports, adding security roles, a criterion for the Taliban who strongly oppose the presence of foreign forces, the resources said.
A contractor connected to the Emirati state would also provide security services, while talks on controlling Afghan airspace continue, they said.
The EMIRATI-linked CAAC, which was concerned about security management and ground handling at Afghan airports before the Taliban took control, was awarded the ground handling contract in May, shortly after Taliban officials visited Abu Dhabi.
SECURITY CONTRACT
Qatar and Turkey’s joint negotiations with the Taliban failed at the time, the resources said.
Emirati officials did not comment quickly when contacted via Reuters. GAAC responded to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the Taliban’s Transport Ministry showed that an aviation protection contract had already been signed with the Uae, but said the air traffic contract had not yet been finalized or shown.
The resources said UAE airlines, which have not flown to Afghanistan since the Taliban’s seizure of power last year, are expected to resume flights to Kabul and, in all likelihood, to other Afghan airports after the deal is finalized.
In the months leading up to the award of the floor contract, the Taliban continuously made inexplicable adjustments to their negotiating team with Qatar and Turkey, the resources said.
The Taliban then sought to replace the agreed terms by expanding airport fees and taxes and weakening Qatar’s and Turkey’s excessive profit collection, they added.
A Qatari official had no immediate comment when contacted via Reuters. A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, showed that talks with the Taliban were halted “some time ago. “
There are few direct announcements in airport operations that raise significant security concerns, however, Kabul airport would provide a key source of intelligence on movements in and out of the country, according to Western officials.
The UAE negotiations are a quiet but assertive effort across Abu Dhabi to expand long-standing ties with Afghan leaders, which have included government aid and diplomatic efforts in the months since the militants took power.
GULF RIVALRIES
Western officials say Abu Dhabi sees Afghanistan, which has a giant land border with Iran’s Gulf neighbor, as part of its broader garden and believes it has valid interests in the country’s political and economic stability.
Western officials also say the UAE will counter the influence in Afghanistan of Qatar, a Gulf state praised in Western countries for serving as a gateway for the Taliban but which is a rival to Abu Dhabi in a regional influence contest.
Western officials fear that this rivalry will now unfold in Afghanistan. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, severed relations with Qatar from 2017 to 2021 as part of a bitter and long-standing dispute between the two rich countries. Gulf says it was largely resolved last year.
Qatar hosted the Taliban’s political office in Doha, long one of the few places to meet with militants and where the United States has negotiated with militants to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Qatar also helped manage Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport after the fall of the Western-backed government last August. Qatar Airways, which was state-owned, operated charter flights and security the Qatari special forces floor.
But Qatar’s relations with the Taliban now appear strained, according to Western officials who say militants are wary of relying too much on a single nation.
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