(8 Sep 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kabul - 8 September 2022
1. Taliban elders led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister, at ceremony
2. Deal-signing ceremony allowing Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions to provide flight services and manage planes landing and taking off on key airports
3. Various of signing ceremony between Afghan civil aviation ministry, and general manager and regional director for GAAC Solutions, Ibrahim Moarafi
4. Taliban government officials
5. Baradar and Moarafi
6. SOUNDBITE (Pashto) Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed Deputy Prime Minister:
"Strengthening of the economy of the country is a priority for the government, with the signing of this agreement's first phase, international flights started in Afghanistan. This agreement will have a positive effect on the trade and economic growth of the country."
7. Various of ceremony
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ibrahim Moarafi, General Manager and Regional Director for GAAC Solutions:
"We believe this is a significant development as it not only allows us to operationalise the air space, to allow the passage of the international carriers, but also to restore their navigation services required for the return of major international airlines to Afghanistan airports."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Kabul - 8 December 2021
9. Various of Kabul international airport, cargo being transported
10. Plane
STORYLINE:
The Taliban and the Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions signed a contract Thursday for the Emirati company to provide flight services and manage planes landing and taking off at key airports in Afghanistan.
The flight guidance services deal will also include equipping the facilities and training Afghan staff at country's three major airports, including the one in the capital of Kabul, the Taliban said.
The two other airports covered under the deal are in the cities of Herat, in the country's west, and in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan and a Taliban heartland during the insurgents' 20-year war with U.S. and NATO forces.
The Taliban have faced withering international criticism of their rule since seizing the country in August 2021 amid the last weeks of the American and NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban takeover, Qatar's government has agreed to represent the United States in the Taliban-run country, following the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister, said at Thursday's deal-signing ceremony in Kabul that the "strengthening of the economy is a priority for the government."
"This agreement will have a positive effect on the trade and economic growth of the country," he added.
The international community, wary of the Taliban's harsh rule when they were last in power more than 20 years ago, has withheld official recognition of the Taliban government and Afghanistan's assets abroad have been frozen.
GAAC Solutions had once described itself on a one-page website as an Abu Dhabi-based joint venture whose partners include the firm G42, which is believed to have the backing of the ruling family of the Emirati capital.
G42, however, has said it no longer is a part of GAAC Solutions.
A telephone number or contact information for GAAC Solutions could not be immediately found Thursday.
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