Taliban Clears Charter Flight of 200 Civilians to Leave Kabul

The Taliban on Thursday cleared 200 civilians, including US nationals and the citizens of other Western countries, to leave Kabul on a chartered Qatar Airways flight to Doha, according to reports. It will be the first civilian flight to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last month. The permission comes two days after the Taliban announced their interim government, which is made up of Taliban members and loyalists, and does not include any women or other political parties. The acting prime minister is Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a close associate and political adviser to the late Mullah Omar, the founder and first supreme leader of the Taliban. Included in the new government are 14 former Taliban officials from their 1996-2001 rule and five detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison. The new government announced on Wednesday that it wanted to establish diplomatic relations with every country in the world except Israel. Meanwhile, protests across the country against the new government and in support of women’s rights and free speech were dispersed with live gunfire, and journalists were warned not to cover such demonstrations.