Taliban suspend passport issuance process in Kabul

Kabul [Afghanistan], December 26 : The Taliban on Saturday suspended the process of issuing passports to applicants in Kabul.
Shafiullah Tasal, a spokesman for the Central Passport Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the distribution of passports in the capital had been suspended as per directives of the Ministry of Interior.
Without elaborating, he said, "Today, Saturday our work is stopped only in Kabul until further notice."
Meanwhile, he said the process of distributing passports in other provinces was underway, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.
The Taliban earlier in the day said that Afghan passport applicants should apply online to avoid overcrowding.
Inamullah Samangani, the Deputy Spokesman for the caretaker government, tweeted the decision had been taken to prevent overcrowding and avoid people facing problems, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.
After the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan led by Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban taking control of the country in mid-August, most Afghans want to leave the war-torn nation as they fear repercussions from the group as well as dread the previous regime of the Taliban.
Last week, a Pajhwok report quoted Passport Director Alam Gul Haqqani as saying a new online form had been designed, invalidating the previous one.
Earlier in December, the passport-issuing process in Afghanistan commenced in 14 more provinces, taking the total to 32 at present.
Haqqani told reporters that all the 32 Afghan provinces will be competent to issue passports for applicants, reported Tolo News.
Afghans in Kabul desperately need passports and are eagerly waiting for the passport office to reopen.
As revealed by the passport department, over 125,000 passports have been issued so far since the reopening of offices in Afghanistan, reported Tolo News.