Govt, private offices remain closed in Kabul

IANS


Exactly a week after the Taliban captured Kabul, government and private offices remained closed in the Afghan capital on Sunday.

The closure of the government and private offices such as Ministries, the passport department and banks has created huge problems for the residents of Kabul, reports TOLO News.

On Saturday, dozens of Afghans visited government offices aiming to work but normal services did not resume.

Residents speaking to TOLO News asked the Taliban to open the government offices as soon as possible.

Ahmad Masih, a resident of Kabul who came to the passport department, said: “I came for my passport and I was waiting 25 days to get my passport during the previous government.”

“The Taliban said that the government employees should come on Saturday and start their work so I came here but saw there are no employees at the department,” said an employee at the passport office.

A Daikundi resident named Mohammad Zaman said: “I don’t know when (the passport department) will be open.”

The residents speaking to TOLO News urged government employees to come and start their work as before.

“All are at home and saying they will do this or that with us. They (the Taliban) are calling us to come to work,” said Sediqullah a resident of Kabul.

But Naweed Paykan, an employee of the passport department said: “We came to our department, there were other employees at the department and we held a meeting but our work has not yet started officially.”

The new officials of the passport department said that all government and private offices will be open soon.

“There is no problem at the passport department and when the system is active then we will announce it,” said Ahmad Mansour, the new head of the passport department.

Despite no government offices being open in Kabul, residents of Nangarhar province said that the government offices were open.