Alam Gul Haqqani, head of the General Directorate of Passports, said late Monday in a video message that processing of passports at the office in Kabul has been suspended until further notice.

He attributed the decision to a technical problem - specifically with the biometric system.

Haqqani, head of the passport department, said the process would resume in Kabul once the problem was resolved.

He also said that the distribution of passports had started in provinces other than Kabul, and that this would continue.

The distribution process started last week in Balkh, Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktia provinces.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry spokesman Saeed Khosti said the ministry had arrested 60 people on charges of forging documents, including passports.

Khosti wrote on Twitter: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has arrested 60 fake passport makers, commissioners, and fake notice makers in the name of the Islamic Emirate. Among them are employees of the passport department.

After the fall of the previous government, the distribution of passports was suspended for almost two months.

According to officials from the passport department, about 100,000 passports have been issued in the last 40 days.