Afghan identity card

The Afghan Tazkira (Dari: تذکره تابعیت; 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.

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 Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are issued by the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), which is headquartered in Kabul but has offices by the name of Asan Khedmat (Easy Services) in various provinces of Afghanistan.

The Afghan Tazkira, which is older than 100 years, has been modernized in recent years. The e-Tazkira campaign was officially launched in May of 2018 when then-President Ashraf Ghani and First Lady Rula Ghani received their smart cards. Distribution of the cards soon began in Kabul and later in other provinces of the country. The e-Tazkira complies with international standards for identity documents. As of January 2025, over fifteen million people of Afghanistan have obtained their e-Tazkiras. This includes the Afghans residing in Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Afghan citizens that are temporarily residing in Pakistan are also issued special documents by the government of Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.