PIA flight carrying WHO medical supplies reached Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is the first to send the humanitarian aid flight to Afghanistan for delivering essential supplies to thousands of Afghans affected by the ongoing crisis.
The PK-234 (Boeing 777), flew from Islamabad and via Dubai landed at the northern and Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
“PIA is providing air transport for the operation while the WHO will be arranging logistics on the ground.”
The flight was arranged by Pakistan following appeals by aid agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), which said last week that hundreds of tons of medical supplies, including surgical equipment, due to be delivered to Afghanistan, were stuck due to commercial flight restrictions at the Kabul airport.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan said that the country was coordinating with international agencies to create a “humanitarian air bridge for essential supplies to Afghanistan.”
Pakistan has been leading humanitarian efforts and evacuation missions in Afghanistan, launching special flights to Kabul airport just a day after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital after the former Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country on August 15.
WHO regional emergency director Dr. Richard Brennan said that WHO is working with Pakistan to deliver hundreds of tons of medical supplies to the war-torn country.
The World Food Programme, which runs the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, is also planning to start flights from Pakistan into various cities of Afghanistan to create a humanitarian air bridge into Afghanistan, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. “WFP is appealing for about $18 million for the passenger service and $12 million for the cargo air bridge.”