Afghanistan To Resume Issuing Passports In 10 More Provinces - Interior Ministry

Afghanistan will resume issuing passports in ten more provinces starting on November 25, the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Wednesday

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) Afghanistan will resume issuing passports in ten more provinces starting on November 25, the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Wednesday.

"Tomorrow (Thursday), the process of issuing passports will commence in ten additional provinces Parwan, Kapisa, Logar, Wardak, Ghazni, Daykundi, Faryab, Ghor, Nuristan and Badakhshan," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the TOLOnews broadcaster reported, citing the ministry's Passport Department, that at least 25,000 passports were ready to be issued. The acting head of the department, Alim Gul Haqqani, was cited as saying that the new documents will be attributed to "the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," which was the country's name during the previous administration, as opposed to the "Islamic Emirate," widely used by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorist activities).

In October, the passport department resumed its services in the capital of Kabul and on November 14 in seven provinces - Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktia.

The issuance of Afghan passports was disrupted by the power change in August, when the Taliban entered Kabul and the US-backed government collapsed amid the withdrawal of foreign troops. This prompted the mass evacuation of foreign diplomatic personnel and part of the Afghan population who feared persecution by the new authorities.