Afghanistan crisis: First civilian flight leaves Kabul after US withdrawal

Dozens of foreigners, including Americans, have left Kabul on an international commercial flight, marking the first large-scale evacuation since US and NATO forces left Afghanistan late last month.

Their departure on Thursday represented a breakthrough in the bumpy coordination between the US and Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders. The Taliban have said they would let foreigners and Afghans with valid travel documents leave, but a dayslong standoff over charter planes at another airport had cast some doubt on Taliban assurances.

The Qatar Airways flight is heading to Doha.

A senior US official said that Americans, green card holders and other nationalities including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians are on the flight.