JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a lawyer in Kabul offers his observations and perspective on the cessation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights into and out of Kabul Airport. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding our correspondent’s name and institutional affiliation. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.

PIA airlines has now stopped flights to Kabul, which leaves only one foreign airline coming in from Iran. Only Iran and Pakistan have direct flights to Kabul. However, the ticket price is too high. Before the Taliban regime a one-way flight to Pakistan was USD $150 but just two days ago it was around USD $2,500 for a one-way flight.

The Taliban have published a statement today saying that these airlines should reconsider these prices. This has resulted in PIA stopping its flights. There remain thousands of people who want to leave the country.

PIA has said that they stopped flights into Kabul because the Taliban beat up passengers who came to the Kabul Airport to leave. However, this was not previously reported and the Taliban did not comment on it yet.