Black Market Business For Foreign Visas Skyrockets In Afghanistan - Reports

Black Market Business for Foreign Visas Skyrockets in Afghanistan - Reports

The number of Afghans buying black market visas at high prices is growing, as embassies in Kabul remain closed, Afghan TV reported Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2021) The number of Afghans buying black market visas at high prices is growing, as embassies in Kabul remain closed, Afghan tv reported Thursday.

Since most embassies are closed after the government in Kabul collapsed, only a Pakistani visa can now be legally obtained in Afghanistan. People are buying visas from a number of other countries on the black market at prices that are double or triple the cost of visas under the previous government, director of a travel agency in Kabul, Shafi Samim, said as cited by TOLOnews.

"The real price for a Tajikistan visa is $60, but on the black market it is around $350 to $400. The real price for Turkey's visa is $120, but on the black market it is up to $5,000. There are secrets that we do not know, only the firsthand dealers know how to obtain them," Samim said.

Even holders of Pakistani visas are now forced to buy a "pass" on the black market to cross the Torkham gate on the border with Pakistan, a resident of Kabul, Mohmmad Haroon, told the TV channel.

"People have been waiting here for one and two months. They have visas but cannot pass at Torkham gate. They (sellers) have created a black market and sell the gate pass for $200 to $300," Haroon said.

A number of travel agency officials and Afghan residents called on the embassies of foreign countries to reopen in order to "dismantle the black markets," according to the television channel.

The Taliban (terrorist organization banned in Russia) said earlier that people would be allowed to leave Afghanistan once the Kabul airport is reopened and the cabinet of ministers unveiled, according to spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid.

On September 9, the first commercial passenger flight since the US military evacuation was made by the national airline of Qatar, Qatar Airways, which delivered 114 citizens of five countries to Doha.