I am confused. Why is State Department approval required for a private charter flight between 2 third party countries, e.g. Afghanistan and Qatar?
I think it’s to do with the status of those onboard.
All the refugee flights to date have been accepted in the basis that the US military/state department handled them and was responsible for their being given residence visas for the USA or elsewhere.
If you read the State departments comments they don’t know who will be onboard, the6 haven’t cleared them and they won’t guarantee they will accept them.
In which case you can see why Qatar wouldn’t clear the flight to arrive without passport, visa and all other required clearances.
For the people on the ground it’s a chicken and egg situation - with no US diplomatic staff in Afghanistan the USA won’t confirm their refugee status, and without the status the flights can’t leave to reach the nearest airhead where the6 can be met by state department staff.
If you want a comparison think of Pen Farthing and his evacuation flight. He wanted to bring out his staff. Now there are many criteria to justify why someone should get refugee status (interpreter, embassy guard etc), working in a dog pound isn’t one of them as I doubt it puts the staff at any greater risk than any other Afghan who wants to leave.
Similarly these flight would doubtless have many who qualify onboard, but also be stuffed with those who just knew the right people or who had enough money to buy a seat - and the state department won’t guarantee to accept them sight unseen.