Stampede Of Afghans Storm Kabul Passport Office Desperate To Leave Taliban Rule

Hundreds of Afghanistan nationals desperate to leave the Taliban rule reportedly stormed the Kabul passport office a day after it was announced that the office would reopen to issue travel documents.

The crowd that overwhelmed the office was reportedly so huge that Taliban security men had to apply physical force against some people in the crowd to maintain order, New York Post reported.

“I have come to get a passport but, as you can see here, there are lots of problems, the system is not working,” one applicant, Mahir Rasooli, said.

Rasooli added that people are confused and that there are no officials at the passport office to answer their questions.

The passport office had been closed since the Taliban took over Afghanistan after the fall of Ashraf Ghani’s government in August.

The office had reportedly announced that the distribution of passports would begin only on Saturday and that the distribution was initially only for those who had already applied, Al Jazeera reported.

Despite the announcement, hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave the country flocked to the passport office, pressed against a large concrete barrier, and tried to hand their documents to an official who stood on top of the wall. Overwhelmed, the official would later urge the crowd to leave and come back again on Saturday, Reuters reported.

“I am here to receive a passport, but unfortunately I couldn’t,” said Ahmad Shakib Sidiqi.
“I don’t know what we should do in this condition.”

The country's current economic situation is reportedly driving many citizens to leave the country.

“There is no job and the economic situation is not too good, so I want to have a good future for my kids,” said Rasooli.

Meanwhile, Sidiqi said he wanted a passport to accompany a family member to Pakistan to seek medical treatment. He also added that they have no other choice except to leave.

“We have to leave Afghanistan,” he said. “It is a bad situation in Afghanistan – no job, no work. It is not a good condition for us to live.”

According to passport office chief Alam Gul Haqqani, a maximum of 6,000 passports can be issued on a daily basis. He added that the government would also release some 25,000 new passports that had previously been paid for before the passport office closed in August.