This archive report was first published on 18 December 2021.
December 18, 2021, Kabul (AFP) - The Taliban government has announced plans to resume issuing passports in Kabul, a move that could provide relief to thousands of Afghans seeking to escape the country's growing economic and humanitarian crisis.
According to Alam Gul Haqqani, the head of the passport department in the interior ministry, the authorities will start issuing passports from Sunday at Kabul's passport office.
The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as tens of thousands of people scrambled to Kabul's only airport in a bid to catch any international flight that could evacuate them.
However, in October, authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul only to suspend work days later as a flood of applications caused the biometric equipment used there to break down.
Haqqani said that all technical issues have now been resolved, and initially, travel documents will be given to those who had already applied before the office suspended work.
New applications will be accepted from January 10, he added.
Many Afghans who wanted to visit neighboring Pakistan for medical treatment have been blocked for months in the absence of valid passports.
"My mother has some health issues and we needed to go to Pakistan a long time ago, but we could not because the passport department was closed," said Jamshid, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.
"We are happy now that... we can get our passports and go to Pakistan," he added.
