Afghan flights to Pakistan resume

A Pakistani Airport Security Force Officer watches as passengers alight from the Afghan Ariana Airline flight at Islamabad International Airport

(CNN) -- Commercial flights have resumed between Afghanistan and Pakistan after a 23 year absence.

The first general passenger flight of Afghanistan's national airline Ariana, carrying an official Afghan delegation headed by the Minister for Commerce Syed Mustafa Kasmi of the interim administration, touched down at Islamabad International Airport Sunday.

The Boeing 727, a former American Airlines jet, is the first Afghan flight to land in Islamabad airport since the air service to Pakistan was suspended in 1979 following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In November 1999, the United Nations banned all international flights from Afghanistan, effectively crippling the national carrier. The sanctions were removed in February after the Taleban's collapse.

The weekly service to Islamabad re-establishes an important link between the neighbors and marks the slow journey to recovery for Afghanistan's national airline.

Talking to local press on his arrival, Kasmi said that the resumption of flights would further cement bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly in trade and commerce.

Pakistan currently exports wheat, rice and construction materials to Afghanistan in trade which Pakistan's Minister for State and Chairman of the Export Bureau Tariq Ikram values at $140 million.

"We feel very strongly that whatever is good for Afghanistan and is decided by the people and the government is what is required to be done," said Ikram, on welcoming the Ariana flight.

The Pakistani airline, PIA, is due to begin a weekly service to Kabul on May 18 and plans to expand its operations from Peshawar to Kabul and from Quetta to Kandahar, when the routes are considered commercially viable.