The General Directorate of Passports said four passport distribution centers will open in Kabul within the next month.
At a press conference, Shir Shah Qureshi, the department’s deputy, stated that following the opening of these centers, 10,000 passports will be issued each day.
“Maybe in a month, we’ll activate four passport distribution sites in Kabul and raise the overall capacity of passport distribution to 10 thousand per day,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi added that three million passport blanks have already been printed in Lithuania, and an additional two million have been ordered.
More than 700,000 passports were distributed last year, and about 700,000 people who applied online are still waiting to receive their passports, according to the directorate’s officials.
“In the twelve months since the passport department began its operations on the 30th of Asad 1401, we have distributed 714,337 passports to the applicants throughout Afghanistan,” Qureshi stated.
Officials of the directorate further stated that corruption has been prevented and in the last few months more than 350 commissioners and employees of this department who were involved in corruption have been arrested.
“We are working on a system to facilitate the passport system in the provinces where people can register through the online system and subsequently go to the relevant administrations on the appointed day and follow the procedures,” said Noorullah Patman, spokesman of the general directorate of passport.
According to department representatives, passports are currently issued to students, patients, athletes, and businesspeople following approval by a special committee, while others must wait in line after registering online.
