Dhaka: Private companies of Turkey and Qatar have agreed to jointly operate five airports in Afghanistan. However, they are still waiting to finalise the deal with the Taliban, officials said on December 28.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on December 27 that a "memorandum of understanding" had been inked in Doha in early December, covering Kabul and four other airports in the war-torn country.

Cavusoglu said the United Arab Emirates, which operated the civilian part of Kabul airport before the Taliban stormed back to power after two decades of civil war, also expressed an interest in joining the Turkish and Qatari companies.

He said the issue was discussed during Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed's visit to Ankara in late November.

"They said 'maybe we can run work trilaterally' but there was never any concrete proposal," said Cavusoglu, adding, "We haven't presented any proposal to them either. But operating the airport briefly appeared on the agenda."