Kabul airport reopens

While aid agencies have welcomed the opening of Kabul airport on Wednesday for humanitarian and military flights only, demining teams say there is still much work to be done. "The airfield is surrounded by a tactical minefield planted by the Soviets," head of the UN’s Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA), Dan Kelly told IRIN. He explained that the Taliban, during its rule, had refused to give MAPA permission to remove an estimated 12,000 mines surrounding the airport. A total of two million square meters had been mined at the airport, not to mention unexploded ordnance spewed across the airfield following recent US-led bombing against Taliban military assets, he noted. "There was ammunition under the planes which has been scattered, making the area dangerous," training and control officer for the Danish Demining group, Abdul Hakim, told IRIN. Areas on either side of the main runway have yet to be cleared, he added. Teams were also working on defusing an unexploded bomb containing 225 kg of explosives dropped by the coalition during its campaign. "2,100 different types of unexploded ordnance was found following the coalition bombing," Hakim explained, saying that it had either been detonated in the location where it was found or taken away to a destruction area, some 10 km away from the airport. Although an area of 500,000 square meters has been cleared at the airport by some 64 Afghan deminers, Hakim said they needed twice as many workers in order to clear danger zones as quickly as possible. The Danish Demining group has overall control of demining activities at the airport. Demining survey teams using dogs were identifying areas which need to be cleared, a process Kelly described as a "massive job" which could take at least a year to complete.

"A demining team at Kabul airport"

With regard to commercial flights, Kelly said it would take another six to eight weeks to clear areas so that they could resume other flights. However, Afghanistan's national carrier, Adriana resumed domestic flights a month ago to the western province of Herat, claiming it was not aware of any security problems there. Meanwhile, in a show of support for Afghanistan's new interim government, the UN Security Council on Tuesday decided to lift an international flight ban on Ariana, as it "was no longer owned, leased or operated by or on behalf of the Taliban." The 15 council members unanimously adopted resolution 1388, allowing the carrier to resume international flights which were halted in 1999, and to unfreeze the airline's assets. "We are going to start international flights as soon as possible and it may be in the next few weeks," General Manager of Ariana airlines in Kabul, Bari told IRIN. "This will create great employment opportunities and we will resume our previous schedule to start with," he added. Bari said Ariana currently had one airplane at Kabul airport that could be used for international flights. He said that staff were now working on prices for tickets and that their first priority would be to schedule flights to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in time for the Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) period in February. "Many people have also contacted us about flights to India, most of them businessmen," he explained. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1267, imposed on 14 November 1999, all Ariana international flights (except those classed as humanitarian or for the fulfillment of religious obligations) were suspended, company funds were blocked, and no spare parts, supplies or training could be provided by foreign companies. Following the Taliban’s consistent refusal to comply with UN demands, UN Security Council Resolution 1333, imposed on 19 January 2001, banned all international flights to the country, closed all Ariana’s offices outside Afghanistan and barred Taliban government officials from flying out of the country.