KABUL - Government on Thursday formally announced its online passport application process and home delivery service.

At a gathering at the Passport Department, CEO Abdullah Abdullah, officially announced the program and said that the initiative will help Afghan citizens to get passports.

"Good governance means to speed up the work, eliminate corruption and to attain satisfaction and contentment of the citizens through services," Abdullah said.

Meanwhile, the head of the passport department Sayed Omar Saboor said that the new system will enable applicants to fill out the forms and pay the fees on line.

The initiative is a joint project between the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT), Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Central Bank of Afghanistan.

"The main importance of this system in-fact is to bridge a digital connections between the two - citizens and government institutions," said the minister of MoCIT, Abdul RazaqWahidi said.

So far 900,000 computerized passports have been issued in total in the past two years. The home delivery service will however start by Saturday, said in a statement.

"On the basis of the new system introduced and on the basis of international standards, the passports which are printed should be delivered to the applicants swiftly through the post," said Saboor.

However, a large percentage of the Afghan population does not have access to the internet. In line with this, Abdullah said internet cafes would be able to provide people with access. However, he added that these cafes would need to be monitored.

This new system is expected to ease the process as currently passport offices are besieged with applicants on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, NoorulHaqUlomi, the minister of interior said: "The digitalization process promoted here is likely unique in the region, the move is aimed to take Afghanistan to world standards and enable Afghan citizens to travel abroad by holding a passport which could determine the demands of the current situations. Still we live in a third world country and we must come out of this situation."  (Tolonews)