| Afghan Tazkira (Dari:تذکره تابعیت) (Pashto:د تابعیت تذکره) | |
|---|---|
| Type | National identity card |
| Issued by |  Afghanistan |
| Purpose | Identification |
| Eligibility | Citizen of Afghanistan |
TheAfghan Tazkira (Dari:تذکره تابعیت;Pashto:د تابعیت تذکره) is an officialnational identitydocument issued to everycitizen of Afghanistan, which includes theAfghan diaspora around the world.[1][2]
The document is used to obtain anelectronicAfghan 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 throughWestern Union, purchasing aSIM card, obtaining apassport, booking airline tickets, staying in hotels, etc. The documents serve as proof ofidentity andresidency but more importantlyAfghan nationality. Both the Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are issued by theNational Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), which is headquartered inKabul but has offices by the name of Asan Khedmat (Easy Services) in variousprovinces of Afghanistan.[3][4]
The Afghan Tazkira, which is older than 100 years,[5] has been modernized in recent years. The e-Tazkira campaign was officially launched in May of 2018 when then-PresidentAshraf Ghani andFirst LadyRula Ghani received theirsmart 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.[6] As of October 2025, over sixteen millionpeople of Afghanistan have obtained their e-Tazkiras.[7] This includes the Afghans residing inIran and theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE).[8][9]
To obtain a Tazkira, an application must be filed with the NSIA.[10] The processing fee is between 500 and 700afghanis (around $10 USD).[3] Overseas Afghans are required to pay between $50 USD and $150 USD.[11] The Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are both issued by the NSIA.[12] Factual evidence regarding the applicant being a national and citizen of Afghanistan is required.[13] This can be done by providing older Afghan Tazkiras along with family and relatives appearing as witnesses, and they each must also have a valid e-Tazkira or a valid Afghan passport. Applicants below the age of 18 years must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians before the application can be submitted.[14] The e-Tazkira can only be issued after the entire verification andbiometrics process is completed. In some cases this requires multiple trips to the NSIA.[15]
The e-Tazkira is a polycarbonatesmart card, about 86 × 54 millimeters in size.[16] 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,[5] and include the following personal information:
Amachine readable zone is printed on the bottom of the back-side of the card.[17]