KABUL: The Taliban are in Doha to negotiate a deal to transfer control of Afghanistan airports to Qatar.

On the helm of a delegation, Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held a meeting with Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss a deal with Doha to run Afghanistan’s airports.

On Monday, Taliban’s envoy in Qatar, Mohammed Naeem said, the talks touched on political and economic obstacles and conditions of the contract for supervision of the airports.

Qatari, Turkish and Afghan experts are working together to establish an agreement to operate the airports across Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, which led to the collapse of the previous government. Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul was in ruins, following Afghans running in droves in the hope of getting on a plane as part of the US-led evacuation process.

Turkish and Qatari companies signed a pact in December 2021 to run Kabul airport as well as airports in the provinces of Balkh, Herat, Kandahar, and Khost, which are currently struggling to function due to dire economic conditions.