KABUL, Afghanistan — A year into President Ashraf Ghani’s tenure, so many Afghans want to leave the country that authorities need to order more machines to print enough passports.

Hundreds of people in recent months have arrived before dawn to queue outside of Kabul’s only passport office. Applications have risen sevenfold since last year, overwhelming local staff. It can now take 40 days to get a passport, up from two earlier.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks at a conference Monday. In the single year since he came to power, applications for passports are up sevenfold.

“Most of them are here to get their passports to flee the country,” Sayed Omar Saboor, who heads the office, said in an interview. “People see Afghanistan now with a vague future.”

The exodus reflects worsening economic and security conditions that are setting off alarm bells from Washington to Brussels to Moscow. The uncertainty threatens to push more Afghans to seek asylum in Europe, destabilize areas near Russia’s southern border and upend American plans to end the country’s longest war.

Afghans made up about 13 percent of migrants that traveled to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea from January to August, according to the United Nations refugee agency. That’s second only to Syrians fleeing civil war.

Many of the Afghans lining up for passports spend hours in the hot sun, the first step in a journey that costs thousands of dollars and puts their lives at risk. Most are heading to Europe.

Since visas are extremely difficult to obtain, many pay human smugglers to organize the trips.

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