KABUL: Afghanistan's Taliban authorities said Saturday they will resume issuing passports in Kabul, giving hope to citizens who feel threatened living under the new administration.
Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic as well as a humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as an "avalanche of hunger."
Authorities will start issuing the documents from Sunday at Kabul's passport office, Alam Gul Haqqani, the head of the passport department in the interior ministry, told reporters.
The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as tens of thousands of people scrambled to Kabul's only airport in a bid to catch any international flight that could evacuate them.
In October, authorities reopened the passport office in Kabul only to suspend work days later as a flood of applications caused the biometric equipment to break down.
"All the technical issues have now been resolved," Haqqani said, adding that initially travel documents will be given to those who had already applied before the office suspended work.
New applications will be accepted from January 10.
Many Afghans who wanted to visit neighboring Pakistan for medical treatment have also been blocked in the absence of valid passports.
"My mother has some health issues and we needed to go to Pakistan a long time ago, but we could not because the passport department was closed," said Jamshid, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.
"We are happy now ... we can get our passports and go to Pakistan," he said as many began gathering outside the passport office after Saturday's announcement.
Issuing passports -- and allowing people to leave amid the growing humanitarian crisis -- is seen as a test of the Taliban's commitment to the international community.
The Taliban are pressing donors to restore billions of dollars in aid that was suspended when the previous Western-backed regime imploded in the final stages of a US military withdrawal.
The abrupt withholding of aid has amounted to an "unprecedented" fiscal shock for an economy already battered by drought and decades of war, according to the United Nations Development Program.
The crisis has forced many to sell household possessions to buy food.
On Saturday, the Taliban government's deputy foreign minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai urged aid agencies to apply pressure for the release of nearly $10 billion worth of assets held in the United States.
Stanekzai also urged all Afghan refugees to return now that the war had ended.
"We invite and encourage everyone to return to Afghanistan, even our political opponents," he said at a function held to mark International Migrants Day.
Afghanistan's minister for refugees Khalil Haqqani said that humanitarian organizations must help Afghan refugees return home.
"Afghan refugees living in camps abroad are in a bad situation. They have to return to Afghanistan and work here," said Haqqani, who is a member of the Haqqani network, which was branded a terror group by Washington.
Over the past four decades, more than six million Afghans have fled the country to escape war and economic crises, most of them living in neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
The international community has so far not recognized the current Taliban government that was formed after the chaotic withdrawal of US-led foreign troops.
International flights, mainly to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have meanwhile slowly resumed at Kabul airport after the facility was trashed in August when crowds of people scrambled to evacuate.
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul
https://arab.news/5qysa
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul
- The Taliban stopped issuing passports shortly after their August 15 return to power, as people scrambled to Kabul airport in a bid to leave the country
- Thousands of Afghans have applied for new travel documents to escape a growing economic as well as a humanitarian crisis
Bangladesh takes ‘balanced approach’ with Pakistan as talks of defense deal emerge
- Air force chiefs of Pakistan and Bangladesh discussed potential defense pact last week
- Dhaka says plan to procure fighter jets still in early stages, discussions ongoing with several countries
DHAKA: Bangladesh appears to be moving with caution as Dhaka and Islamabad forge closer ties and explore a potential defense deal, experts said on Friday.
Following decades of acrimonious ties, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have been growing since a student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
Talks on a potential defense deal covering the sale of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets to Dhaka emerged after Bangladesh’s Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan visit to Rawalpindi last week, where he met with his Pakistani counterpart Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defense forces.
Bangladesh’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said the procurement of fighter jets for the Bangladesh Air Force is “in the very rudimentary level,” and currently “under an evaluation process.”
ISPR Director Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury told Arab News: “The evaluation process will determine which country’s offer proves befitting for us. The air chief’s visit to Pakistan is part of the evaluation process … Earlier, he visited China, Italy (too).
“Discussions are underway with different countries. Nothing concrete has come yet.”
Talks between the high-ranking military officials are the latest development in Bangladesh-Pakistan ties, which have included the resumption of direct trade for the first time since the 1971 war and the expected launch of a regular route from Dhaka to Karachi at the end of this month, following over a decade of suspension.
Though efforts to expand relations can be seen from both sides, the current interim government of Bangladesh led by economist and Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been “showing some kind of pragmatism,” said Prof. Delwar Hossain of Dhaka University’s international relations department.
“Bangladesh is stepping very cautiously in comparison with the advancement from the Pakistan side. Bangladesh is trying to make a balanced approach,” he told Arab News.
“The present government is always saying that the development of a relationship with Pakistan doesn’t necessarily mean that Bangladesh is moving towards a particular camp. Rather, Bangladesh is interested in having a balanced relationship with all the great powers.”
Trade and economy are “naturally” more preferable areas of cooperation for Dhaka, Hossain said, adding that “we need more time to determine” how far military cooperation will be expanded.
Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, a defense expert and retired air officer of the Bangladesh Air Force, said that Bangladesh is “very much in need of advanced aircraft” because its military has not procured new fighter jets in at least two decades.
“Air frigate fighters are badly needed for the Bangladesh Air Force. We had some F-7 produced by China, but they stopped producing these fighters nowadays. Here, Pakistan can be a source for our fighter jets, but it involves … geopolitics,” he told Arab News, alluding to how Dhaka’s defense ties with Pakistan may be perceived by its archrival neighbor India.
Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed with China, have drawn international interest following their success last May, when Pakistani and Indian forces engaged in their worst fighting since 1999.
Islamabad said it shot down several Indian fighter jets during the aerial combat, a claim Indian officials later acknowledged after initially denying any losses, but without specifying the number of jets downed.
“Our friendship with Pakistan shouldn’t (come) at the cost of our friendship with India,” Choudhury said.
“With this (potential) defense purchase deal with Pakistan, we have to remain very cautious so that it proves sustainable in the long term.”
