Thousands of people showed up at the Taliban’s passport office in Herat city on Thursday after the group announced it’s decision to speed up the distribution of passports in the province.
Taliban officials said that based on the new decision, the group will issue passports to 1,000 applicants in Herat city daily.
Residents of Herat sent photos to Afghanistan International on Thursday which depict a massive crowd outside the Taliban’s passport office in the western city.
According to the report of the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar news agency, Noor Ahmad Islamjar the group’s governor in Herat had made the announcement regarding the increase in the distribution of passports in Herat on Wednesday while inaugurating the new passport office headquarters.
Islamjar said that after this, up to 1,000 passports will be distributed in Herat every day. Bakhtar news agency reported that the increase in the distribution of passports in Herat had been ordered by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's interior minister.
Local Taliban officials said that previously, 250-300 passports were issued daily in Herat.
Local sources in Herat told Afghanistan International that before this, the Taliban only issued passports to people with health issues.
In the past few months, the Taliban has stopped the process of distributing passports in different provinces of Afghanistan several times. However, local sources previously told Afghanistan International that the sale of passports in the black market continued at exorbitant prices "from two to four thousand dollars per passport".
With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the increase in migration of Afghans, the number of applicants applying for passports has increased dramatically across the country.
