Taliban say deal signed with UAE firm to manage airports

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban announced a deal Tuesday allowing an Emirati company to manage three airports in Afghanistan after the fall of the country's U.S.-backed government. However, the United Arab Emirates did not immediately acknowledge the deal.

Under the deal, the Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions would manage the airports in Herat, Kabul and Kandahar, the Taliban said. They held a news conference in Kabul in which they signed the deal with an individual they identified as a managing director for GAAC.

Ghulam Jelani Wafa, the Taliban’s acting deputy transportation and civil aviation minister, signed the accord. Also on hand was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister, who described the arrangement as renewing an airport ground-handling agreement with the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to the long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways.

However, the deal left more questions than answers, particularly as Qatar and Turkey had been in line to run the airports, though the deal apparently broke down over requirements on having their own security personnel on hand at the airports.

The Gulf Arab nation already has agreed to represent the United States in Taliban-run Afghanistan following the closure of the American Embassy in Kabul and withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the country in late August. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways had been running flights to evacuate American citizens out of Afghanistan since the takeover.

The Taliban did not discuss the deal's terms with the UAE, which has had strained relations with both Turkey and Qatar in recent years though tensions have recently eased.

Baradar had traveled to Abu Dhabi recently to offer condolences for the death of its president and speak with its new leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,...