KABUL: The Afghan Taliban authorities said on Saturday they would continue the issuance of passports in Kabul, giving hope to residents who felt threatened with living under the Islamic government.
Thousands of Afghans have submitted a new travel document to escape from the increasing economic and humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as “starving avalanches”.
The authorities will begin to issue documents from Sunday at the Kabul Passport Office, Alam Gul Haqqani, head of the passport department in the Interior Ministry, told reporters.
The Taliban stopped publishing a passport shortly after August 15th they returned to power, because tens of thousands of people rushed to the only airport kabul in an effort to capture any international flights that could evacuate them.
In October the authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul just to suspend workdays later because the flood of applications caused biometric equipment used to break down.
“All technical problems have now been resolved,” said Haqqani, adding that initially travel documents will be given to those who have registered before the office is suspended working.
The new application will be received from January 10, he said.
Many Afghans who want to visit Pakistani neighbors for medical care have been blocked for months with the absence of applicable passports.
“My mother has some health problems and we need to go to Pakistan for a long time, but we can’t because the passport department is closed,” Jamshid said, which is like many Afghans with just one name.
“We are happy now because …
we can get our passport and go to Pakistan.” Publishing a passport was also seen as a Taliban commitment test to the international community to allow people who qualified to go in the midst of a developing humanitarian crisis.
The Taliban urged a donor to recover billions of dollars in suspended assistance when the previous Western-supported regime exploded in the final stage of US military withdrawal.
Aid cuts that suddenly have fiscal shocks that are “unprecedented” for the economy that has been obsolete by drought and decades of war, according to the UN Development Program.
The crisis has forced many people in the capital to sell household items to buy food for their families.
International flights, especially to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, slowly resumed at Kabul airport after the facility was thrown in August when the crowd rushed to evacuate.