Pakistan offers hotels, 21-day transit visas to foreigners evacuating Afghanistan

US Air Force loadmasters and pilots load passengers aboard a US Air Force aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan on August 24, 2021. (AFP)

• Interior minister says foreigners coming in will be able to stay at hotels on their own expense
• Karachi's commissioner orders necessary arrangements for at least 2,000 incoming foreigners

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: A senior Pakistani cabinet member said on Friday his country would offer 21-day transit visa to foreign nationals evacuating Afghanistan while making necessary arrangements to host them during that period.
US president Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment earlier this week to withdraw American soldiers from Afghanistan by August 31, a deadline the Taliban are not willing to extend.
After a brief disruption caused by a deadly suicide bombing near Kabul airport on Thursday, the international community resumed the evacuation of foreign and Afghan nationals earlier today.
Many foreign nationals have been using Islamabad as a transit facility before departing to their respective countries after a brief stay.
“We have decided to grant 21-day transit visa [to foreigners], and they will be able to live in hotels on their own expense,” Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Friday while addressing a news conference in Lahore.
The announcement was made following a request by the US and other NATO countries to Pakistan to allow transit flights for the completion of evacuation of their citizens from war-torn Afghanistan.
The US-led evacuations from Kabul airport in Afghanistan have entered their final stage following the devastating bomb attack on Thursday wherein about 90 people, mostly Afghan civilians and 13 US military personnel, were killed.
“Anybody from any country is welcome to avail the transit facility for 21 days,” said the minister, adding that the government was ready to host diplomats, journalists and people associated with international organizations like the World Bank and IMF.
He said that the country was not allowing any refugees to enter, though the land routes between the two countries were open for trade.
“Our embassy in Kabul is working and issuing visas to people with valid documents,” Ahmed added.
The Islamabad district administration on Thursday directed all hotels in the city to stop making reservations for the next 21 days to accommodate foreigners traveling from Afghanistan.
The interior minister said Pakistan was currently using only two airports in Islamabad to receive the transit flights.
However, Karachi's commissioner also asked his subordinate departments on Thursday to make necessary arrangements for at least 2,000 foreign nationals who were likely to reach the southern port city in the next few days and stay in transit before leaving for the United States.
“As per the figures shared in today’s meeting, around 2,000 persons are expected to arrive in Karachi in the next three to four days,” the commissioner wrote while referring to a meeting held at the headquarters of 5 Corps.
“They are expected to stay in transit for the next few days,” the letter, a copy of which is available with Arab News, said.
The commissioner instructed relevant officials to make “adequate arrangements on an emergency basis” near the airport and ensure the security of all foreign nationals.
He also directed the power supply company, K-Electric, “to make arrangements for the provision of uninterrupted power supply” to the facilities where the transit passengers would stay.