About 200 people, including some Americans, are expected to depart Kabul's airport on Thursday in the first international flight to leave Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrew its forces at the end of August.
The passengers will be bound for Doha on a Qatar Airways flight that brought in humanitarian and emergency aid.
Qatar has been instrumental in organizing the flight and other logistics to help get people stranded in Afghanistan out of the country.
Officials stressed that this was not an evacuation flight, but rather that people were leaving of their own free will and had tickets. Passengers will also need passports or other documentation, something many vulnerable Afghans don't have.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, including Americans, have been waiting for days at a different airport in Mazar-i-Sharif, north of Kabul, also hoping to leave the country.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.