500 passports being issued daily in Kabul: Officials

Officials from the General Directorate of Passports at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Wednesday that they are issuing at least 500 passports in Kabul a day.

“We have distributed passports to government employees, [medical] patients and athletes daily. The people who have filled in forms must not come every day,” said Alam Gul Haqqani, head of the Passport Directorate.

The passport office is only issuing passports to select applicants at the moment but once they are fully operational, other passport applications will be processed.

The officials added that staff at the department will be off every Thursday.

 “People from other provinces come to Kabul. The Passport Directorate has not resumed operations completely,” said Haqqani.

Many passport applicants said that they have waited for up to six months for their passports.

“We have filled in the passport form, but we have not received our passports so far. It is our right to have a passport,” said Gul Begum, one applicant.

“We have forms, if we fill in another form the database will not accept it. Our problems should be solved,” said Hedayatullah, another applicant.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we have not received our passports in six months,” said Bismillah, another passport applicant.