KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Saturday that they will begin issuing passports in Kabul, offering those who feel intimidated living under Islamist rule hope.
Thousands of Afghans have sought for fresh travel papers in order to flee a deepening economic and humanitarian catastrophe characterised by the UN as a “avalanche of hunger.”
Authorities will begin issuing the documents on Sunday at Kabul’s passport office, according to Alam Gul Haqqani, the chief of the interior ministry’s passport department.
The Taliban ceased issuing passports immediately after their return to power on August 15, as tens of thousands of Afghans rushed to Kabul’s main airport in the hope of catching any international flight that may rescue them.
In October, officials reopened the Kabul passport office, only to stop operations days later due to a surge in applications that caused the biometric technology to fail.
“All of the technological concerns have now been fixed,” Haqqani said, adding that individuals who had previously applied before the office’s suspension will be handed travel papers first.
Beginning January 10, new applications will be accepted.
Many Afghans who wished to go to neighbouring Pakistan for medical treatment were also denied entry due to a lack of legal passports.
“My mother has certain health concerns, and we needed to go to Pakistan a long time ago, but we couldn’t because the passport service was closed,” Jamshid, who, like many Afghans, goes by only one name, explained.
“We are thrilled today… we may receive our passports and go to Pakistan,” he said as crowds gathered outside the passport office after the news on Saturday.