Officials at the Passport Department said on Tuesday at a press conference that passport processing is set to begin across Afghanistan on April 5th.
Shafiullah Tasal, spokesman of the passport department, also said the department has recruited female staff to assist with the processing and distribution of passports for women.
“From sixteen of Hamal (solar month), April 5th, the processing of online passports will begin normally in Kabul and all provinces,” said Shafiullah Tasal.
Tasal expressed hopes that female staff could accelerate the processing of passports for women.
Officials said that at least six people were arrested on charges of corruption and for soliciting bribes over the 30 past days in Kabul.
“The arrested people made a fake stamp and signature of the passport director, and they were preparing fake documents for people in return for money,” said Mohammad Naeem, Deputy Security officer at the passport department.
Meanwhile, residents of Kabul welcomed the arrest of corrupt people, but they urged officials to consider people’s problems.
“I need a passport to travel with my family to India for medical treatment. I have no one here to take care of my children so I want to apply for a passport and I hope to receive it,” said Laila, a passport applicant.
Currently, the passport department is processing at least 300 online forms per day which is not a normal process for applicants.
“In the past, the process of distributing passports in Kabul was such that we were distributing passports to people who urgently needed to travel for medical care, and 300 applicants who registered online, and this process will start again,” said Shafiullah Tassal, press director of the General Directorate of Passports.
Officials in the department also said that the processing of passports in the provinces was halted due to the new solar year and the need to process a backlog of applications.
“In the provinces, we have stopped the process of distributing passports for a while. This is due to three problems. First, as you know, the fiscal year is coming to an end, and the process will stop for a while in the provinces due to the settlement of accounts. Secondly, a lot of documents have been collected from the provinces that need to be cleared …” said Shafiullah Tassal, press director of the General Directorate of Passports.
Passport processing in Kabul has been stopped for almost a week.
Passport applicants call for the General Directorate of Passports to address their problems
“The Islamic Emirate has to solve the problems of the people. If they cannot distribute 50,000 passports a day, distribute at least 500. These 300 passports are not really enough for one province,” said Mohammad Taqi, a passport applicant.—Telenews
