Stampede in Afghanistan kills several

At least 15 people were killed on Tuesday in a stampede near Pakistan's consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials say.

They said jostling had broken out among some 3,000 people waiting at a football stadium to collect tokens needed to apply for a visa. 

Eleven of those who died were reportedly women, who had been queuing separately from the men as is customary in Afghanistan. 

The stampede occurred despite the hundreds of policemen deployed to the stadium to control the crowd, officials said.

Long wait

Some of those in the crowd had been outside the consulate all night. The consulate had resumed issuing visas just last week after the coronavirus outbreak forced a seven-month pause.

Many Afghans travel to neighboring Pakistan each year for medical treatment, education and employment. The two countries share an almost 2,600-kilometer (roughly 1,600-mile) border. 

Millions of Afghans have also taken refuge in Pakistan over the past decades to escape the almost constant conflict in their home country.