New Delhi: Amid the worsening situation in Afghanistan, an Air India Chicago-Delhi flight was diverted on Monday (August 16, 2021) due to the closure of the Afghan airspace. Air India's AI 126 Chicago-Delhi flight was reportedly diverted to the Gulf airspace.
A flight tracking website said that the Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi had changed course and exited Afghanistan's airspace shortly after entering. However, there have been no official comments on the same yet.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) has said that Kabul airspace had been released to the military and that it advised transit aircraft to reroute. This has reportedly led to hastening some airline route switches.
Earlier, United Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had already stopped using Afghanistan airspace. Emirates has also suspended flights to Kabul until further notice.
This is to be noted that commercial flights set to land in Afghanistan have also been affected by the chaos on the ground that erupted after the Taliban took control of the national capital.
The situation has deteriorated in the war-torn country after the Taliban fighters took control of the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday. The Taliban's arrival in the national capital also saw President Ashraf Ghani fleeing Afghanistan, who said that he left the country in order to avoid bloodshed and clashes with the insurgents that would endanger millions of Kabul residents.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office, declared that the war in 'Afghanistan was over'.
"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," he said.
"Thanks to God, the war is over in the country," the Taliban spokesman added.
(With agency inputs)
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