, nativename-r = , image = , caption = , IATA = KHT , ICAO = OAKS , pushpin_map = Afghanistan , pushpin_map_caption = Location of airport in Afghanistan , pushpin_label = KHT , pushpin_label_position = right , type = Public , owner = , operator = Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation

Afghan Air Force
(until 15 August 2021) , city-served =

Loya Paktia Lōya Paktiā ( ps, لويه پکتيا; lit. Greater Paktia) is a historical and cultural region of Afghanistan, comprising the modern Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika, as well as parts of Logar

region , location =

Khost Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...

, Afghanistan , elevation-f = 3760 , elevation-m = , coordinates = , website = , metric-elev = , metric-rwy = , r1-number = 06/24 , r1-length-f = 8740 , r1-length-m = 2664 , r1-surface = Asphalt , stat-year = , stat1-header = , stat1-data = , stat2-header = , stat2-data = , footnotes = Sources:

Ariana News Ariana Television Network (ATN) (Dari/Pashto: ) is a private television network based in Kabul, Afghanistan. The channel was launched by Afghan-American Ehsan Bayat (owner of Afghan Wireless Communication Company) in 2005 and started broadcastin ...

;

Khaama Press The Khaama Press News Agency (Pashto: خامه پرس خبری آژانس; Persian: خبرگزاری خامه پرس) is the largest online news service for Afghanistan, established in October 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, by Khushnood Nabizada, ...

Khost Airport ( ps, د خوست هوايي ډګر; ), also known as Khost International Airport, is located in the eastern section of

, which is the capital of

Khost Province Khost ( Pashto/ Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. To the east, Khost Province is ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. It is under the country's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), and is used for domestic and international flights. The

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

also uses it for emergency relief purposes such when the recent

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

occurred in the area. The airport sits at an elevation of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

surface measuring . It provides air transportation to the entire

region.

Airlines and destinations

History

During the 1980s

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

, Khost airport was occupied by the invading

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

forces. It was then occupied by Americans during the 2001-2021 U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The United States built a military base there known as

Forward Operating Base Chapman Forward Operating Base Chapman, also known as Camp Chapman, was a United States Armed Forces Forward Operating Base located at the site of a former Afghan Army installation and was situated in Khost province, Afghanistan, on an airstrip 2 miles ...

. There had been three major reported accidents, all of them during the 1980s mujahideen fighting and involved Russian-made

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 ( NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Tw ...

aircraft. In December 2009, seven

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

employees were killed in a suicide attack at the nearby Forward Operating Base Chapman (FOB Chapman). The bomber, Humam Balawi of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, wore a suicide vest and blew himself up in the base, killing the base commander, CIA agents and civilian contractors. Work to improve and expand Khost Airport began in late 2011. Civilian passengers between Khost and Kabul were allowed to use NATO's ''Sehra Bagh Airport'' until Khost Airport was completed. It was announced that the airport will become international in the future, taking passengers to and from the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. The airport was officially inaugurated by Afghan President

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in ...

on July 11, 2021, who was there to personally welcome passengers of a flight from

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. In August 2021, security forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

) took control of the airport from the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-trained Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

References

External links

* * , Feb. 18, 2021,

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

(VOA).
User information

Airport Records by Dr. Günther Eichhorn
Airports in Afghanistan Khost Province Afghanistan–Soviet Union relations {{Afghanistan-airport-stub

Airlines and destinations

History

See also

References

External links