Pakistani airline suspends Afghanistan flights due to Taliban 'heavy-handedness'
CNN
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced Thursday that it was suspending flights to Afghanistan due to what it described as unworkable conditions imposed by the Taliban.
The airline said conditions had worsened since the Taliban formed a new Afghan government last month and that "PIA and its staff position in Kabul were dealt with very heavy-handedly by the new [Taliban] commanders." PIA said commanders had been "changing regulations and flight permissions at the last moments or deciding at a whim rather than meeting international regulations."
The statement also claimed that PIA's country representative was "held up at gun point for hours when he left the Pakistan embassy compound" on the Taliban's "suspicion of aiding and abetting" people seeking to flee Afghanistan.
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