Pakistan eases visa policy for int'l journalists trapped in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has decided to ease visa policy for journalists and media persons who are trapped in war-torn Afghanistan, ARY News reported on Friday.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that the federal government has decided to relax its visa policy for stranded journalists in Afghanistan.

He said that the federal government took the decision in view of recent developments in the neighbouring country. Ahmed said that those international journalists who wanted to leave Afghanistan en route to Pakistan could apply for their visas.

The minister announced that international journalists and media workers will be issued visas on a priority basis by the Ministry of Interior. He added that the federal government has taken the step for ensuring the protection of the journalists.

READ: TALIBAN TAME THE ‘LION OF HERAT’, CAPTURE HIS AFGHAN CITY

In previous developments, the Afghan officials said on Friday that the Taliban captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest city of Kandahar.

The Taliban also said they had captured the third-largest city of Herat in the west, Lashkar Gah in the south and Qala-e-Naw in the northwest.

In response to the Taliban’s swift and violent advances, the Pentagon said it would send about 3,000 extra troops within 48 hours to help evacuate US embassy staff.

Britain said it would deploy around 600 troops to help its citizens leave while other embassies and aid groups said they too were getting their people out.

The Taliban had until recent days focussed their offensive on the north, a region they never fully controlled during their rule and the heartland of Northern Alliance forces who marched into Kabul with US support in 2001.