Passports please: Afghans queue for escape lifeline

The snaking queues outside Kabul's passport office are a totemic indicator that the exodus is gathering fresh momentum as pessimism abounds about the deteriorating war, the tanking economy and a government widely derided as lacking direction. AFP PHOTO / SHAH Marai

Like thousands of his compatriots, Abdel Khalid Nabyar waited outside Afghanistan's main passport office to apply for the precious travel document that would allow him to leave the war-torn nation.

With the Taliban making huge advances in the countryside as foreign forces wind up their withdrawal, many Afghans – those with the means, at least – are looking for a way out.