KABUL - The long-awaited distribution of electronic ID cards will start Hamal 3 (March 23) after Nowruz, Karzai's office said Monday.

The Council of Ministers has discussed has ordered the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to start processing the IDs by Saturday, the statement from Karzai's office said.

The new ID cards are expected to be distributed over a period of three years, a process that will cost $121 million and employ thousands of people, according to Afghan officials.

Officials of the Computerized ID Card Distribution Department at the Ministry of Interior have said that the government is prepared to distribute electronic ID cards to an estimated 30 million people.

Some of the challenges faced ahead of the election and a lack of precise demographic statistics are expected to be tackled by the distribution of these ID cards. (Tolo News)