Abdul Karim Hasib, the director of the General Directorate of Passports, says the department’s revenue from passport distribution has totalled nearly 13 billion AFN over the past year, and more than two million passports have been issued to the country’s citizens.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in Kabul, Hasib stated that the passport distribution process has returned to normal, and every citizen can easily apply for a passport.

He added that they have the capacity to print 50,000 passports per day.

Hasib stated that currently, the passport distribution process is running smoothly in all provinces of the country.

According to him, the entire process of obtaining a passport will become electronic in the near future.

Meanwhile, some passport applicants have stated that while the necessary facilities for the passport application process have been established, there is still a need for the process to be further expedited.

The Passport Directorate added that compared to previous years, the number of passport applicants has decreased, and currently, 4,000 passports are distributed daily across the country and the process of applying for a passport now takes about one hour.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has announced that more than $400 million in funding will be required to support the reintegration of Afghan returnees in 2025.

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Wednesday, May 7, UNAMA detailed that $64 million is urgently needed for emergency assistance at border crossings, while an additional $350 million is required to support approximately 600,000 returnees and affected communities in rebuilding their lives.

“We call on donors not only to invest in emergency assistance, but also in long-term capacity building to help break the cycle of displacement and instability,” the statement read.

UNAMA’s funding appeal is part of the “Integrated Response Plan” to address the anticipated crisis stemming from the mass return of Afghan migrants from Pakistan in 2025.

The plan, jointly developed by the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), aims to deliver immediate aid at border entry points and provide medium- to long-term support for sustainable reintegration in designated “return areas.”

According to the UN, the strategy is grounded in the principle that sustainable reintegration must combine urgent humanitarian assistance at the borders and in return areas with broader support for affected communities over time.

The plan will be implemented through national and regional working groups focused on durable solutions, aligning short-term relief efforts with longer-term development and stability initiatives. Over 250,000 Afghan refugees returned last month.

More than 250,000 Afghan refugees returned home from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in April, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported this week. Nearly seven million Afghan refugees are living outside the country, a large percentage of whom live in Pakistan and Iran.

Last year, the Pakistani government said it would expel as many as three million Afghans this year.

Iran has also called on undocumented Afghans living in the country to return home. However, with the high levels of poverty and unemployment in Afghanistan, the returning refugees are in urgent need of assistance.

However, funding cuts in humanitarian assistance have had a huge impact on the level of assistance that organizations can provide.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Wednesday expressed concern over the escalating tensions between Pakistan and India and said further escalation was “not in the interests of the region”.

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Minister, the IEA stated it “reaffirms its belief that security and stability serve the collective interests of all countries in the region”.

The IEA also urged both sides to exercise restraint and resolve their issues through dialogue and diplomacy.

The IEA’s statement comes only hours after a target operation against Pakistan was carried out overnight by India in retaliation for the Kashmir terror attack last month that India has blamed on Pakistan.

Pakistan’s PM vows to avenge India’s ‘act of war’

However, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s airstrikes and said his country would retaliate.

“Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given,” Sharif said.

The country’s National Security Committee met Wednesday morning, and Pakistan summoned India’s charge d’affaires to lodge a protest.

Hope of the easing of tensions was however seen during the day Wednesday when Pakistani media reported that airports in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi were operating again after all traffic was halted overnight.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. A source told the Reuters news agency Modi postponed a trip to Croatia, the Netherlands and Norway.

Concern mounts

South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said it was one of the highest-intensity strikes from India on its rival in years and that Pakistan’s response would “surely pack a punch as well.”

“These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other,” Kugelman said.

“The escalation risks are real. And they could well increase, and quickly.”

Stephane Dujarric, the United Nations spokesperson, said in a statement late Tuesday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum restraint because the world could not “afford a military confrontation” between India and Pakistan.

Several Indian states planned civil defense drills later Wednesday, according to India’s home ministry, to train civilians and security personnel to respond in case of any “hostile attacks,” the ministry said in a statement.

Such drills in India are rare in non-crisis times.