Afghanistan issues more than 650,000 passports in one year

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, says more than 650,000 ordinary passports were issued across Afghanistan over the past Hijri year, while the visas of more than 16,000 foreign nationals were extended.

Mujahid made the remarks during the “Government in the Media Mirror” program, held under the theme “Public Services Week.”

According to him, the General Directorate of Statistics and Information also distributed nearly 2 million electronic national ID cards and around 1 million paper ID cards during the 1447 Hijri year.

Mujahid added that the agency provided hundreds of thousands of in-person and online services related to corrections and amendments to national ID cards over the past year.

The Islamic Emirate spokesperson said the General Directorate of Passports has sought to make services faster and easier by reducing the passport application form from nine pages to one page.

He also announced an expansion of services by the state-owned Afghan Post, saying the company delivered more than 5 million domestic mail items over the past year.

According to Mujahid, other measures to expand postal services included verifying and certifying hundreds of thousands of documents, launching express services, establishing a customer service center, and delivering documents directly to people’s homes.