:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/SR5OMPBBVVESRJDA3M6UVX3P4Q.jpg "US bans its commercial airlines from flying over Afghanistan")
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday banned US commercial airlines from flying “at any altitude” over Afghan territory, and specified that they must receive “prior authorization”.
The US agency reported the measure in a statement, after the United States ended the war it fought in the last two decades in Afghanistan.
The FAA explained that the decision is due “to the lack of air traffic services and a functional civil authority in Afghanistan, as well as current security concerns.”
He recommended that US airlines use a route “at high altitude near the eastern border” of the Central Asian country for overflights.
“Any US civil aircraft operator that wants to fly to / from or over Afghanistan must receive prior authorization from the FAA,” the note stated.
He also instructed aircraft landing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport to use “extreme caution”.
The US ended its military mission in Afghanistan on Monday, after 20 years of war, after the departure of the last planes with its troops.
The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Frank McKenzie, indicated in a press conference from the Pentagon, in which he intervened telematically, that the last US military plane, a C-17, took off from the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport this Monday at 3:29 p.m. EDT (19:29 GMT).
On that last flight, were the acting US Ambassador, Ross Wilson, and Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan.