With the news of issuance of new computerized identity cards, it seems appropriate to review some of the issues that accompany such a serious issue of national identity.

It is satisfactory that all the old records were able to survive the civil war of three decades and still old records are present in all the provincial offices. These records have proved very useful in tracing out the identity of families and thus national identity cards or ‘Tazkira’ are issued after their old family roots are found in the old records. It is necessary that these records should be protected and converted into digital records and stored at many alternate places so that the risk of their elimination should be finished permanently. On the other hand, the central office should constantly check the record of provincial offices so that there should not be any illegal addition or alteration in the records. It can be best done by setting up a central system where any kind of change should be done with a proper process. Same kind of central system is in work in USA and other developed countries and we can avail their expertise in this regard.

Secondly, there are rumors that many foreigners, especially of our neighboring countries, have obtained national identity cards of Afghanistan and still people are able to acquire one with spending little money. At present, the manual system allows the provincial members of the office to issue a card without any kind of check from the central office of national registration and this gap allows the provincial members to issue easily a card of identity. Anyhow, it is needed that such acts should be controlled. It is hoped that after the whole system is computerized, it might bring an end to this problem.

In all the developed countries, a card of registration is issued with a very smooth process in which a person is not bothered a lot. Anyhow, our present system creates a number of useless and irrelevant obstacles to a common citizen on the name of formalities and official requirements. It is necessary that the whole system of issuing an identity card should be revised and the process should be made simple but fool-proof.

Upcoming presidential elections are going to decide the fate of the country and the whole process of elections is going to depend on national identity cards thus it is needed that the concerned authorities should consider all the relevant issues.