Officials reported that preparations for the distribution of Electronic ID cards were underway, but that before it could begin, President Hamid Karzai must sign the Population Registration Act.
The Population Registration Act has been among the more controversial laws passed through Parliament last year, not being finalized until just last week. Officials said that after Karzai has signed the law and ratified it, the first round of distribution of ID cards will start in three centers of Kabul and then will continue in other provinces.
The ID cards are expected to be used by every Afghan citizen.
Initially, these Computerized ID cards were planned to be distributed over last year's spring, but due to disagreements among representatives in the drafting of the Act, approval of the law dragged out. The biggest dispute over the law was whether or not to include ethnicity on the card.
"We have full preparation underway, teams have been trained, and we are now only waiting for the approval of this law to officially start our work," said Naseer Ahmad Amin, spokesman for the Computerized ID Card Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI). "We will issue the first ID card to the President of Afghanistan."
Close to 500 people are said to have already been trained for registering the public.
"480 of our employees have received vocational trainings and are ready to work. We will start distribution of ID cards from Kabul, then once we finish Kabul, we will plan for other provinces," Amin said.
A number of residents of Kabul have been waiting for their Computerized ID cards and welcomed the announcement.
"We ask government to start distribution of Computerized ID cards soon, as people have many problems," a Kabul resident named Hamayoon said.
"The absence of standardized ID cards has created many problems for people, we want the government to start its distribution as soon as possible," another resident named Said Muqeem said.
At the moment, citizens of Afghanistan have five types of ID cards, with great chances of being forged, as some of them are printed on a piece of paper. Beside other advantages, the Computerized ID cards are expected to better prevent forgery.