Kabul passport office head urges patience as anxious crowds keep gathering

Alam Gul Haqqani, Head of Afghanistan Passport Office, checks documents at his office in Kabul, Afghanistan December 12, 2021. Picture taken December 12, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Khara

KABUL (Reuters) - The head of the Kabul Passport Office has asked for patience from thousands of Afghans waiting for documents that would let them leave the country as large crowds continue to gather outside, a month after the office suspended operations.

As winter closes in and economic crisis deepens in the wake of the abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August, the crowds around the biggest passport issuing centre in the country underline the desperate desire of large numbers of citizens to leave.