- Title: Afghans seeking travel documents crowd passport office
- Date: 10th October 2021
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 10, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PASSPORT APPLICANTS GATHERING AT PASSPORT OFFICE / TALIBAN SOLDIERS ON GUARD (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) PASSPORT APPLICANT, HAJI MERAJUDDIN, SAYING: "People have come here to get passports because they (the passport office officials) announced that they would distribute 25,000 passports to the people. So, we came here early in the morning at 4:00 o'clock and stood in line. There's alot of congestion and there is no order or discipline." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AT PASSPORT OFFICE NEARBY / VEHICLES PARKED HAND OF MOTORCYCLE MECHANIC NOORUL HADI SAAFI LUBRICATING MOTORCYCLE WHEELS VARIOUS OF SAAFI WORKING ON SIDE OF STREET SIDE / VEHICLES PASSING (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) MOTORCYCLE MECHANIC, NOORUL HADI SAAFI, SAYING: "In the previous government, using motorcycles was not allowed. Still, now with the coming of the government of the Islamic Emirate, people are using motorcycles more, because there are many crowds in the city and people can get to work by motorcycle faster. Another reason is that oil has become more expensive. So, people are using motorcycles because motorcycles consume less oil." VARIOUS OF SAAFI WORKING VARIOUS OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES CLEANING THE STREET / VEHICLES CROSSING BALLOONS A BOY STANDING ON STREET SIDE AND HOLDING THE BALLOONS TO SELL VEHICLES ON STREET
- Embargoed: 24th October 2021 09:35
- Keywords: Taliban motorcycles passport office
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
- Reuters ID: LVA001EYKQDS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Crowds of people desperate to get travel documents crowded around the entrance of the passport office in Kabul on Sunday (October 10) morning as Taliban security officials tried to keep order.
Taliban authorities began issuing passports to its citizens again on Tuesday (October 5), a senior official said, following months of delays that hampered attempts by those trying to flee the country after the Taliban seized control in August.
But applicants were frustrated with the chaos.
" We came here early in the morning at 4:00 o'clock and stood in line. There is congestion and no order or discipline," said Haji Merajuddin, a passport applicant.
Interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayeed Khosti said last week that 25,000 applicants had reached the final stage of paying for passports, with roughly 100,000 applications in the earlier stages of the process pending.
Poverty and hunger have worsened since the Islamist movement took over Afghanistan, which already suffered from drought and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Half a million people have been displaced in recent months, the United Nations says, and the number will only grow if health services, schools and the economy break down. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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