FAA restricts US airlines from flying over Afghanistan

US airlines will have to get special permission to fly over Afghanistan because there are no longer air-traffic controllers overseeing the skies under the new Taliban leadership, aviation regulators said late Wednesday. The FAA issued a legally binding notice to US-licensed operators requiring that they notify the agency before flying over Afghan territory. The FAA action comes as the US military is engaged in a mission to evacuate American citizens, people holding special immigrant visas and others from the airport in Kabul. The order will not prohibit relief and military flights. It’s unclear how many US flights will be covered under the order. United announced Aug. 15 that it was no longer flying over the nation and few U.S. carriers operate in the region. The US military is guiding aircraft within close proximity of the airport in Kabul, but that is the only part of Afghanistan where planes are tracked by controllers. American intelligence officials didn’t foresee such a rapid collapse of the Afghan military, and the U.S. now has a limited ability to aid allies stuck in Kabul, the Pentagon’s top leaders said earlier Wednesday.<br/>