Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Taliban, has announced that during the year 1447 AH, nearly 2 million electronic identity cards and more than 69,000 passports, including ordinary, business and educational passports, were distributed to Afghan citizens.
Mujahid said on Sunday, 18 Asad, during a press conference in Kabul that was broadcast online from Kandahar, that the Taliban’s National Statistics and Information Authority had also distributed nearly 2 million electronic identity cards and around 1 million paper identity cards during this period.
According to him, a total of 69,717 passports were distributed during this period, including 65,860 ordinary passports, 3,345 business passports and 512 educational passports.
The Taliban spokesperson also said that during the year 1447 AH, the relevant authorities approved visas for 16,171 foreign nationals. He did not provide further details about the countries involved in these visa applications.
Afghanistan’s electronic identity cards and passports continue to be issued and distributed bearing the emblem of the previous government, the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.” The issue has remained a matter of attention since the Taliban took power.
Previously, the Taliban’s National Statistics and Information Authority had announced that more than 16 million electronic identity cards had been issued to Afghan citizens since the distribution process began.
According to figures released by the authority, approximately 10 million recipients of electronic identity cards were men and nearly 6 million were women. The largest number of these identity cards has been distributed over the past four years.
The distribution of electronic identity cards in Afghanistan began in May 2018. The inclusion of the term “Afghan” as the nationality and the recording of ethnicity on the cards have been among the contentious issues surrounding the implementation of the process.
However, some Afghan citizens say the process of obtaining electronic identity cards remains slow, with applicants facing delays in completing the required procedures and receiving the identification document.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
