India is weighing its options on the resumption of international passenger flight services with Afghanistan in the wake of a request from the Taliban regime, UNB has learnt.

In a recent letter to India's civil aviation regulator, Afghanistan's acting Aviation Minister Alhaj Hameedullah Akhunzada sought the resumption of flights between the two countries at the earliest. "The letter was sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The Civil Aviation Ministry is currently reviewing the request," highly placed sources said on Wednesday.

"The intention of this letter is to keep smooth passenger movement between the two countries based on signed MoU and our National Carriers (Ariana Afghan Airline & Kam Air) aim to commence scheduled flights. Therefore, Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority requests you to facilitate commercial flights," Alhaj Hameedullah wrote to DGCA chief Arun Kumar.

India was among several countries that evacuated their diplomatic staff from Kabul when the Taliban took over the Afghan capital on August 15, with the American troops ending their 20-year military presence in the South Asian country. The same day, India stopped flight services with Afghanistan.

However, exactly two weeks later, India began direct communication with the Taliban. The country's envoy in Qatar, Deepak Mittal, held talks with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban's Political Office, in the Indian Embassy in the Gulf state's capital Doha, according to the Foreign Ministry.

At the meeting, Ambassador Mittal had raised India's concern that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner, "to which Abbas Stanekzai assured him that these issues would be positively addressed", the Ministry had said.

India is worried about the security situation in Afghanistan, given it has already infused over three billion USD worth development aid into that country and the horrific memories of the Taliban's role in the hijacking of an Indian airliner in 1999. At the time, the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, led by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vaypayee.