Pakistan issuing visas on arrival for foreigners leaving Afghanistan

Diplomats, foreigners and journalists qualify for the scheme.

Published Aug 18, 2021

Pakistan and Taliban flags flutter on their respective sides while people walk through a security barrier to cross a border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in Chaman, Pakistan (Jafar Khan/AP)

Pakistan is issuing visas upon arrival to all diplomats, foreigners and journalists who want to leave Kabul over security concerns.

The country’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that since Sunday, 900 foreigners including diplomats and staff working for international organisations have arrived in Pakistan from Kabul via air travel.

He said transit visas were also being issued to foreigners upon arrival from Afghanistan at airports and land crossings so that they could travel on to their home countries.

Delivery lorries inbound for Afghanistan wait to move towards the Afghan side at a border crossing point, in Chaman, Pakistan (Jafar Khan/AP)

Mr Ahmed said hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans crossed into Pakistan from two key land border crossings in recent days.

He said all Pakistanis who want to leave Afghanistan will be brought back over the coming two days.