Kabul: Like thousands of colleagues, Abdel Khalid Nabyar waited outside the Afghan’s main passport office to submit a valuable travel document that allowed him to leave a war that was torn war.
With the Taliban making great progress in the countryside when foreign troops end their withdrawals, many Afghans – those who have the means, at least – are looking for a way out.
“If the situation worsens, we might have to go,” said Nabyar, 52, who felt very vulnerable because he had run a shop at the NATO military base.
Not everyone will soon come out, but most want a safety net – knowing they can go with short notice.
“People want to be prepared in advance if there is an error,” Nabyar added.
Dozens began to line up in the passport office in Kabul before Fajar almost every day, and eight in the morning the queue had stretched for a good hundred meters.
Applicants slowly shake plastic translucent plastic folders containing their documents.
Sometimes a police officer is needed for collar queers try their luck.
An official seemed annoyed by the flowers shown by journalists in the crowd.
“Getting a passport is a normal request for Afghanistan,” he said.
But in the last few weeks the applicable numbers have been as usual.
“We get around 10,000 people a day against 2,000 normally,” said a police officer.
Khalilullah, a 36-year-old engineer, arrived at 5:00 with his wife and three children.
“There have been 300 people in line,” he told AFP, more than three hours after joining the queue.
Applicants need to take their photos, the eyes recorded biometrically and fingerprints are taken as part of the process, with thorough security thrown for a good size.
Zeenat Bahar Nazari has been waiting for hours when he talks with AFP.
“When we are children, our family says that the Taliban …
killing people, makes them disappear,” said the 23-year-old computer science student.
“They are hard against women, not letting them be educated and seizing their basic rights.” While Nazari was too young to remember the first Taliban regime, from 1996 to 2001, he knew what they had done.
“The only thing I know is the Taliban has a face of terror – battle, suicide bombings and bloodshed,” he said.
“When you go to school or university you hope for a bright future, but if the Taliban takes the power that hopes for a bright future will disappear.” Many of them are in line do not know where they will go if given the opportunity – or if other countries will even have it.
Most countries require Afghans to jump through a circle for visas, with a large number of documentation needed along with the proof of financial stability owned by a little.
However, everyone wants to be ready.
“Our lives are in danger; we have no choice,” said Sardar, 52, who refused to be identified further because he feared his life after working as a translator from the British civil society group.
Translators for troops and foreign embassies are very vulnerable to Taliban retaliation and many countries have evacuated thousands of emergency visa schemes.
The former Hajj civil servant said Mohammad Sultani wanted a passport, but could not imagine being a refugee again – because he was during the Taliban regime and the Soviet invasion and civil war that preceded him.
“As long as Afghanistan is habitable, we will not leave our country,” said the 45-year-old player.