Kabul | An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a commercial flight out of Kabul on Thursday with the co-operation of the Taliban – the first such large-scale departure since US forces completed their frantic withdrawal more than  a week ago.

The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked a breakthrough in the bumpy co-ordination between the US and Afghanistan’s new rulers. A days-long stand-off over charter planes at another airport has left hundreds of mostly Afghan people stranded, waiting for Taliban permission to leave.

AP