Second Qatar Airways passenger flight takes off from Kabul

A second Qatar Airways passenger flight, which arrived in Afghanistan on Friday, has now departed for Doha from Kabul Airport, a day after more than 100 foreign nationals left on another plane with the Taliban's approval. Friday's flight was carrying 158 passengers, including US, German, Canadian, French, Dutch, British, Belgian and Mauritanian nationals, a Qatari official said. The passengers will land in the Qatari capital at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) and be transported to the compound facility currently hosting Afghans and other evacuees. According to US National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne, 21 US citizens departed Afghanistan Friday, including 19 via the chartered Qatar Airways flight out of Kabul and two via land passage to a neighboring country."We are continuing intensive work across the U.S. government to facilitate the safe transit of these individuals and other US citizens, LPRs, and Afghans who have worked for us who wish to leave Afghanistan," Horne said. "We will continue to provide proven options for leaving. It is up to Americans who remain whether they choose to take them," she added. Earlier on Friday, the aircraft was seen landing in Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport on Qatari-funded Al Jazeera Arabic television, and aid was seen being unloaded before passengers boarded the plane. This is the second such flight to depart from the airport. <br/>