Afghanistan:Passport requests overwhelm Nangarhar office, issuance delayed

Nangarhar [Afghanistan], November 19 : Amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the residents of Nangarhar province are flocking passport offices in huge numbers, which has left government officials overwhelmed by the workload.
More than 2000 passport applications at the Nangarhar office in a day have overburdened the officials and department, which is capable of issuing only 200 to 250 passports per day, reported TOLOnews.
The flooding of applications has caused chaos and overcrowding in the office. The officials cannot entertain new applications until the already filed applications are processed. Moreover, the officials have been requesting applicants to follow the protocols.
"We have collected around 2,500 to 3,500 applications, and we cannot accept new applications and documents until finishing and processing these applications," TOLOnews quoted Nader Wadan, head of the Nangarhar Passport department as saying.
Meanwhile, the locals are insisting on ramping up the passport application and issuing process.
"We have been coming here for several days, believe me, we are exhausted, there is a lot of problems here," TOLOnews quoted a passport applicant as saying.
The humanitarian crisis has deepened in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital city.
According to the UN, some 22.8 million people across the country are facing food insecurity and are unable to access affordable or nutritious food. Of the 38 million people living in Afghanistan, some 14 million children are food insecure.