ISLAMABAD: Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad said Friday it is launching flights to Kabul, making it the latest airline to offer direct routes to the Afghan capital. Etihad, which announced a record $476 million profit in 2024, said the new service responded to &ldquo;growing demand&rdquo; for travel between the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan and that the three weekly flights starting in December would support &ldquo;trade, travel, and community ties.&rdquo; &ldquo;The UAE hosts one of the largest Afghan communities in the Gulf, with around 300,000 Afghans living and working in the country, according to the Afghan Business Council,&rdquo; the airline said in a statement. &ldquo;The new flights will further strengthen these economic and social ties while enhancing connectivity through Abu Dhabi.&rdquo; Other international carriers flying direct to Kabul include Turkish Airlines and FlyDubai. India reopens embassy&nbsp;Even though the Taliban are largely isolated from the West, due to their restrictions on women and girls, they have successfully established bilateral relations with regional powers. In July, Russia became the first country to recognize them as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. And, on Friday, India said it was upgrading its technical mission in Kabul to a full embassy.

Asia

Etihad Airways will launch flights to Kabul, citing growing demand and strong UAE-Afghan ties. The move enhances trade and travel, despite Afghanistan’s political isolation under Taliban rule.

Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad launches direct flights to Kabul

Web Desk

KABUL: Two powerful explosions shook central Kabul on Thursday evening, according to local witnesses and journalists.&nbsp;A loud blast was reported near Abdul Haq Square in the Afghan capital, Pakistan TV Digital&rsquo;s Zahra said, prompting authorities to cordon off the area and restrict public access.&nbsp;Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that an explosion had occurred and said an investigation is underway, adding that no casualties or damage had been reported so far.&nbsp;Local media reports suggest the alleged target was Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).&nbsp;According to Pakistan TV Digital&rsquo;s sources, a Land Cruiser was the intended target of the attack. Following the incident, TTP released audio messages attributed to Mehsud, claiming he had survived the attack.&nbsp;However, sources suggest that the prompt denial and audio release by the TTP further indicate that Mehsud was traveling openly through Kabul at the time of the explosions.&nbsp;Witnesses, including Reuters and AFP correspondents, said they heard at least two blasts around 9:50 p.m. local time (1720 GMT). Roads leading to the affected area have been sealed off as officials continue their investigation.

Afghanistan

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said authorities are investigating the blasts, adding that no casualties have been reported so far.

Explosions rock central Kabul, Taliban launch investigation

Reuters

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KABUL: Eight-year-old Noorullah and his twin, Sanaullah, spend their days hauling yellow jerrycans on a wheelbarrow through Kabul&#39;s dusty alleys instead of going to school - an ordeal for one family that reflects Afghanistan&#39;s deepening water crisis. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once supplied with water from their own well, the family of 13 has had to queue at communal taps or pool money for costly water tankers since their supply dried up four years ago. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With climate change increasing the frequency of droughts and erratic rainfall in Afghanistan, aid agencies say Kabul is among the most water-stressed cities in Asia, with shortages fuelling disease, malnutrition and school dropouts. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent Kabul-based research group, in a report this month warned the city&#39;s groundwater could run out by 2030, with other Afghan cities also running dry. The crisis is deepening inequality, as poor families spend up to 30% of their income on tanker water while the wealthy dig ever-deeper private wells. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The twin boys queue with dozens of children at a communal tap, where shoving and shouting often flare into fights as the heat builds. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Standing in line for hours <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Noorullah, who has epilepsy, said he once collapsed with a seizure while fetching water. His brother added, &quot;Sometimes we stand in line for three hours. When the heat is too much, we feel dizzy.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their father, 42-year-old shopkeeper Assadullah, feels there is no choice. Sitting outside his small shop with empty water barrels stacked nearby, he said, &quot;From morning until evening, my children go for water six or seven times a day.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;Sometimes they cry and say they cannot fetch more, but what else can we do?&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The shortages have gutted his income too. On a good day, he earns $2&ndash;$3, however, he often closes the shop to help his sons push their loads. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;Before, we used to receive water through a company. It lasted us three or four days. Now even that option is gone,&quot; he said. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the family&#39;s yard, his wife, Speray, washes dishes in a plastic basin, measuring out each jug. She said her husband has developed a stomach ulcer and she contracted H. pylori, a bacterial infection linked to unsafe water. &quot;I boil water twice before giving it to our children, but it is still a struggle,&quot; she said. Snowmelt once replenished Kabul&#39;s water basin <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kabul&#39;s population has surged past six million in two decades, but investment in water infrastructure has lagged. War wrecked much of the supply network, leaving residents dependent on wells or costly tankers, and those are failing. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just a few streets from Assadullah, 52-year-old community representative Mohammad Asif Ayubi said more than 380 households in the neighbourhood faced the same plight. &quot;Even wells 120 metres (nearly 400 feet) deep have dried up,&quot; he said, a depth once considered certain to reach water. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Droughts and erratic rainfall patterns have limited the snowmelt that once replenished Kabul&#39;s water basin and left the riverbed dry for much of the year. &quot;Kabul is among the most water-stressed areas,&quot; said Najibullah Sadid, a water researcher based in Germany. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UN envoy Roza Otunbayeva warned the UN Security Council earlier this month that droughts, climate shocks and migration risk turning Kabul into the first modern capital to run out of water &quot;within years, not decades&quot;. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For Assadullah, the wish is simple. &quot;If we had enough water, my children wouldn&#39;t have to run around all day,&quot; he said. &quot;They could go to school. Our whole life would change.&quot;

A girl carries empty barrels to fetch water, amid serious water crisis in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 28, 2025. 

Eight-year-old Noorullah and his twin, Sanaullah, spend their days hauling yellow jerrycans on a wheelbarrow through Kabul's dusty alleys instead of going to school - an ordeal for one family that reflects Afghanistan's deepening water crisis.

Articles tagged with "Kabul"

Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad launches direct flights to Kabul

Explosions rock central Kabul, Taliban launch investigation

Water crisis in Kabul sends children from classrooms to water queues