ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates sent a plane carrying “urgent medical and food aid” to Afghanistan on Friday, the official WAM news agency said, nearly three weeks after the Taliban’s takeover.

The “assistance comes within the framework of the humanitarian role being played by the UAE to provide full support to brotherly Afghan people in such current circumstances,” WAM said.

The UAE foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that “this is the first (Emirati) aid flight since the recent events in Afghanistan”.

Taliban fighters celebrated with gunfire on Tuesday, hours after the last US forces abandoned Kabul, closing a frenzied airlift operation that saw more than 123,000 foreign nationals and Afghans flee.

The United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled its Taliban government in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda, which had sought sanctuary in the country.