Afghanistan's airline makes first international flight since 1999

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan&#39;s national carrier made its first international flight Thursday in nearly 2½ years, its lone Boeing 727 taking off from Kabul to New Delhi -- after a worker clambered up a mobile stairway and used a plastic jug to clean the windshield. <br> <br> It was the latest milestone in the struggle to get Ariana Afghan Airlines off the ground again. Its international flights had been halted since October 1999, following the imposition of anti-Taliban sanctions by the United Nations. <br> <br> Those sanctions were lifted Jan. 13 by the Security Council. <br> <br> Even before the Taliban took over, Ariana had all but disappeared from the world aviation map. After the Soviet invasion in 1979, Ariana&#39;s operations to Western countries were effectively halted, and travel to Afghanistan dried up during the bloody 1992-96 civil war. <br> <br> As Afghanistan grew increasingly isolated under Taliban rule, Ariana flew to only a few international destinations -- Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. <br> <br> Pilots have told of the airline&#39;s planes being used by the Taliban to ferry weaponry and leaders of al-Qaida, the terror group whose suicide squads allegedly hijacked four jetliners in the United States on Sept. 11. <br> <br> Thursday&#39;s flight carried a crew of 12 and 13 passengers, including Afghanistan&#39;s tourism minister and the airline&#39;s president, taking off into clear blue skies. It landed safely in New Delhi and passengers and crew were greeted with garlands of marigolds. <br> <br> &#34;I am very happy that our first flight was to our friendly country, India,&#34; said Abdul Rahman, Afghanistan&#39;s civil aviation minister. <br> <br> Kabul&#39;s international airport, badly damaged during the U.S. bombing campaign that began Oct. 7, reopened last week to international humanitarian and military flights, although much damage remains to be repaired. Ariana is the only carrier being allowed to use it for commercial traffic. <br> <br> Ariana last month began making twice-a-week domestic runs to the western city of Herat, initially using a taxiway for landings and takeoffs because the main runway was unusable due to bomb craters. <br> <br> <br>