In a video message, director of the central passport department Alam Gul Haqqani cited technical issues, including a breakdown hitting biometric machines, as the reason for suspending Kabul department’s operations.
Thousands of people, multiple times the number the passport department could process, had thronged near the office. Haqqani also cited an increase in applicants and the crowd near the government body to suspend services.
Haqqani spoke to TKG, saying passport offices in seven Afghan provinces, including Balkh, Paktia, Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Nangarhar, and Khost provinces, continue and will soon be resumed in the capital.
The Kabul office, Haqqani said, is putting efforts to buy new biometric document processing machines.
The passport department suspends operation at the time demands have been ramping up for passport.
On Tuesday, dozens of applicants went to the office with their application forms, but were forced to walk out.
Ahmad, a passport applicant, said he had paid for the passport three months ago and was called for biometric processing, but he wasn’t allowed to enter the office.
Ahmad added that he went to the passport department more than ten times and he is now concerned over the suspension of the operations.
Meanwhile, the interior ministry has announced the arrest of as many as 60 people involved in fraud and illegally issuing passports. Employees of the central passport department were also among those arrested.
Mohammad Naeem who is charged with security of the passport department said there will be no one to make troubles.
An increase in number of Islamic Emirate forces can also be seen in nearby areas of the central passport department.
Authorities have yet to disclose the reason.
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