Passport distribution for Afghan citizens begins

KABUL (TOLOnews): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the beginning of the process of distributing passports to Afghan immigrants in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. Officials of the ministry said that they are trying to resume this process in Uzbekistan and China in order to solve the challenges of immigrants. “You know that Afghans in foreign countries face various problems, the most important of which is the problem of passports or documents. In the short term, we were able to activate the system in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, and in the near future we will activate the system in Uzbekistan and then in China,” said Mohammad Shoaib Baryali, an official of the Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, some Afghan refugees in Iran expressed their satisfaction with the passport distribution process at the Afghan consulate in this country. “They said that they are happy that electronic passports have started to work, although it has been reduced from 30 dollars to 20 dollars, and we ask for it to be reduced more. People are really having problems with these 20 dollars,” said Latifa Stanikzai, an Afghan refugee in Iran. Some immigrant rights activists in Iran consider the start of this process a good move for Afghan immigrants. “Immigrants face various challenges, especially Afghan students who were prevented from continuing their education, and also businessmen and travelers who intend to travel to other places,” said Asifa Stanikzai, an immigrant rights activist. “The Embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan should provide permanent passport distribution facilities services to the people,” said Mohammad Khan Mohammadzai, an immigrant rights activist. Based on the statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nearly 1,000 passports are printed for consulates every day, and in the past year, they have distributed 300,000 passports to Afghan immigrants in other countries.