| Document Name: | Afghan Tazkira (تابعیت تذکره) (Pushto; Pashto: د تابعیت تذکره) |
| Document Type: | National identity card |
| Purpose: | Identification |
| Eligibility: | National of Afghanistan |
The Afghan Tazkira ('''تابعیت تذکره'''; Pushto; Pashto: '''د تابعیت تذکره''') is an official national identity document issued to every national and citizen of Afghanistan, including a member of the Afghan diaspora around the world.[1] [2]
The document is used to obtain an electronic Afghan identity card (e-Tazkira), which is valid for up to 10 years and required for many things such as employment, registering in school, operating a business, buying or renting a house, opening a bank account, sending or receiving money through Western Union, purchasing a SIM card, obtaining a passport, booking airline tickets, staying in hotels, etc. The documents serve as proof of identity and residency but more importantly Afghan nationality. Both the paper Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are issued by the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), which has offices in nearly all provinces of Afghanistan.[3] [4] [5] [6]
The Afghan Tazkira, which is older than 100 years, has been modernized in recent years. The e-Tazkira campaign was officially launched in Kabul in May of 2018 when then-President Ashraf Ghani and First Lady Rula Ghani received their smart cards. Distribution of the modern Tazkiras later began in other parts of Afghanistan. The e-Tazkira complies with international standards for identity documents.[7] As of 2024, over twelve million people of Afghanistan have obtained their e-Tazkiras.[8] [9] [10] This includes the Afghans that are temporarily residing in Iran and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[11] The Afghan citizens that are temporarily residing in Pakistan are also issued special documents by Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.[12] In May 2022, the Government of Afghanistan announced that it will start issuing Tazkira certificates with a new design bearing the emblem of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.[13]
In order to obtain a Tazkira, an application must be prepared and filed with the NSIA.[14] The processing fee is 500 afghanis, which is the equivalent of around $7 US dollars.[15] The Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are both issued by the NSIA.[16] Evidence that the applicant is in fact a national and citizen of Afghanistan is required.[17] This can be proven by providing older Afghan Tazkira along with family and relatives appearing as witnesses, and they must also have valid e-Tazkiras or passports. Applicants below the age of 18 years must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians before the application can be submitted.[18] The e-Tazkira can only be issued after the entire verification and biometrics process is completed. In some cases this requires multiple trips to the main NSIA office in Kabul.[19]
The e-Tazkira is a polycarbonate smart card, about 86 × 54 millimeters in size.[20] On the front is the bearer's photo along with personal information, which is in Dari and Pashto languages. On the back is a gold-plated contact chip, and to the right is the bearer's smaller photo, with some of the bearer's personal information in English.
At the top of the current e-Tazkira is written the following:
The descriptions of the fields on the e-Tazkira are printed in Dari, Pashto, and English language,[21] and include the following personal information:
A machine readable zone is printed on the bottom of the back-side of the card.[22]