The first civilian flight in 20 years has landed at an airfield in the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, the governor's office announced.

On Saturday, provincial authorities said that the airfield in Jalalabad is ready to receive domestic and international flights, as all technical and security issues were resolved.

"The first civilian flight to the Nangarhar airfield was made after a 20-year hiatus... A plane with humanitarian aid arrived from Iran," the statement said.

On Monday, Iranian special representatives for Afghanistan arrived in Kabul to hold meetings with officials of the interim Afghan government appointed by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism). The sides agreed to strengthen cooperation on a number of issues, including humanitarian aid.

The Taliban seized Kabul in mid-August and completed a large-scale offensive across Afghanistan in early September, declaring an end of a decades-long war and establishing a new all-male cabinet, led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, former foreign minister under the first Taliban rule, who has been under UN sanctions since 2001.

(SAM)