Afghanistan, Tajikistan ink accord on flights increase

KABUL and Tajikistan have signed an agreement to increase flights between the two neighbors and explore more air routes, a statement from the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Wednesday.

CAA Director Mohammad Qasem Wafaezada and his Tajik counterpart Subhanzada inked the agreement in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, the statement said.

Accelerating capacity development of air traffic of the two countries, specially flights crossing the airspace of the two nations, was the main goal of the accord, it added.

The creation of new air routes for flights from Afghanistan to China and India was another main point of the agreement.

The agreement is signed at a time when the indefinite closure of Pakistani airspace has affected air traffic including flights from and to Afghanistan and the passengers have to suffer a lot.

Pakistan has restricted its airspace over fears India will launch another attack, forcing international airlines to take costly and time-consuming detours.

nh/ma