New terminal opens at Kabul airport

Kabul: President Hamid Karzai has inaugurated a new terminal at Kabul airport which cost $35m (£22m), funded by Japan.

Officials say it can handle a million travelers a year, from domestic and international flights.
The old terminal at Kabul airport had become a symbol of the decline in the country's infrastructure.

'I hope, now this facility has been handed over to us, that our sisters and brothers, those in charge of the airport, the passengers passing through, the state officials and MPs using it, will look after it and they should not allow, God forbid, that we come here after a year and find its windows, doors and tiles broken,' Mr. Karzai said.

The old airport was in some ways a barometer of Afghanistan's fortunes over the decades. When it was originally built, the old terminal was regarded as ultra modern, a fashionable place to visit, and many Afghans have fond memories from the 1960s of going there to eat and socialize.