KABUL (SW) – The Taliban’s interim government in Afghanistan today announced to extend passport issuance to province level from tomorrow onward.
According to officials the process would begin in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Herat, Balkh, Kunduz, Khost and Paktia provinces tomorrow.
At a press conference in Kabul today, Alam Gul Haqqani, head of the passport department of the Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Emirate, announced the resumption of passport distribution in seven provinces and easing pressure at the Kabul Passport Office.
“The Ministry of Interior has decided to start distributing passports in the mentioned provinces to make it easier for the people. We ask the clients not to go to Kabul after this and to go to their relevant provinces”.
He said that since the resumption of the Passport Office operations, about 100,000 volumes of passports of the “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” have been distributed and 500 million afghanis have been transferred to the state treasury. He added that the rumors about the absence or lack of passports were not true and that the department would not need to issue new passport for a few more months.
“The passport department has 900,000 passports ready, of which 600,000 have been printed,” said Haqqani. “Nearly one million is being printed and we are printing another 450,000. I assure all my compatriots that the passport will not run out and do not listen to the negative propaganda of the enemies.”
On the other hand, Passport Department officials say that since the beginning of the passport distribution process in Kabul, 45 commission agents have been arrested for illegally distributing passports to citizens.
ENDS
