Afghanistan hands out 10 million digital IDs in four years

Over 10 million digital ID cards have been distributed in Afghanistan in the last four years of Taliban rule.

The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) is quoted by Tolo News as saying that the digital ID distribution has been happening through easy service centers across the country. Four of the centers known as Asan Khedmat are located in the capital Kabul.

A spokesman for the NSIA, Mohammad Halim Rafi, said the distribution process has been simplified by giving powers to more provincial offices to address problems which citizens faced in the past.

It would be recalled that the distribution of digital ID cards has faced complications in the last few years, with citizens complaining of corruption, bribery, and high travel costs to pick-up centers, among other challenges.

Rafi is also cited as explaining that a center has equally been opened in the United Arab Emirates with a plan to do same in other countries such as Türkiye, Iran and Pakistan, to serve Afghans abroad.

As the distribution process continues, some Afghan citizens have called on the NSIA to address some of the problems plaguing the distribution process such as such as accuracy. Citizens are asking the agency to make sure digital IDs are sent to the right addresses of their owners.

NSIA has pledged to continue the distribution process and to ensure that all those who were enrolled for the digital ID actually get them.

Meanwhile, the agency has also announced that the scanning of demographic forms for digital ID cards is now taking place across the country.

Before now, this service was available only in Kabul, but the Directorate of Identity Verification and Archive Management at NSIA says the process has been decentralized at the level of provinces and the forms will be delivered in full light and modern format.

The Taliban government this year made it optional for women to have photos on their national ID cards.

Article Topics

Afghanistan  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  e-ID  |  e-Tazkira  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA)