The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday denied landing rights for a charter plane carrying more than 100 Americans and US green card holders evacuated from Afghanistan, Reuters news agency reported quoting the flight organizers. "They will not allow a charter on an international flight into a US port of entry," said Bryan Stern, a founder of non-profit group Project Dynamo. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unfamiliar with the matter, but that the US government typically takes time to verify the manifests of charter planes before clearing them to land in the United States. Stern spoke to Reuters from aboard a plane his group chartered from Kam Air, a private Afghan airline, that he said had been sitting for 14 hours at Abu Dhabi airport after arriving from Kabul with 117 people, including 59 children. Twenty-eight Americans, 83 Green Card holders and six people with US Special Immigration Visas granted to Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war in Afghanistan were aboard the Kam Air flight, Stern said. His group is one of several that emerged from ad hoc networks of US military veterans, current and former US officials and others that formed to bolster last month's US evacuation operation they saw as chaotic and badly organized. US President Joe Biden's administration has said its top priority is repatriating Americans and Green Card holders unable to leave Afghanistan in the US evacuation operation last month. A senior State Department official on Monday said the United States was aware of about 100 American citizens and legal permanent residents ready to leave Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority under the new Taliban regime has written to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeking resumption of flights operated by Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airline to and from Delhi. DGCA chief Arun Kumar confirmed receiving the letter, and said the Ministry of Civil Aviation will take a call on the matter as this was a policy issue. Pakistan has allowed Kam Air to operate its flights from Islamabad to Kabul, a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official said on Sunday. The permission, he said, has been granted at the request of Kam Air, which, until now, is the only Afghan airline to apply for the flight permit. -- Agencies
