20pc of Afghans to get electronic ID cards next year

KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) on Sunday said 1.7 million electronic identity cards have so far been issued and around 20 percent of the country’s total populations would benefit from the service in the next one year.

Ahmad Javid Rasouli, NSIA chief, said this to Meshrano Jirga or upper house of the parliament today.

He said 2.7 million people had applied for electronic ID cards, but 1.7 million of them had received them so far.

Currently 25,000 people register for electronic ID cards on a daily basis but the authority has the ability to issue 16,000 cards in a day, he added.

Rasouli said efforts were on to expand the capacity of ID cards distribution for next year. NSIA has developed a plan to distribute the cards to five million citizens of the country next solar year, he said.

NSIA currently has 70 offices of electronic ID cards distribution, but the number of these offices would be also increased, he added.

Rasouli said there were six such centers in the country’s embassy and consulates in Iran and they would be also opened in Pakistan and the UAE in 1400 solar year that begins on March 21.

In response to a question, he said, “Distribution of paper ID cards has not stopped, but their verification process has been stopped for being time comsuing and corruption.”

He said if an organization found a fake ID card, it could approach NSIA to resolve the problem.

Mds/ma