About 200 citizens of foreign countries, including many American citizens, received permission from the Taliban to board flights out of Afghanistan's northern Mazar-e-Sharif airport on Thursday.
A US official told Reuters that the chartered flights would be allowed after US special representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad asked the Taliban to facilitate the exit of hundreds of foreigners who remained in the country after the US withdrew from Afghanistan last month.
The flights were the first large-scale exits of Americans from Afghanistan since August 31, when the final US government flights departed and the Taliban took over the entire Kabul airport.
Two Qatari officials told The Associated Press that between 100-150 Americans were expected to be on the flights.
The Taliban had previously been refusing to allow flights chartered by private citizens to take off, preventing the continuation of evacuation efforts, on the grounds that many attempting to leave did not have proper documentation.