Local officials in Farah province in the west of the country said that at least 70 percent of residents of the newly-formed Farahrud district have no national identity cards.

“Only 30 percent of the residents have identity cards,” Farahrud district governor Mohammad Sadiq said.

A number of residents of the district said that some of them are 40 years old and they don’t have an identity card so far. They said there is a need to start the distribution of identity cards in the district.

“I want them to give me an identity card here,” said Abdul Hakim, a Farahrud resident.

“We don’t have money to go to the center and apply for an identity card,” said Rahim, a resident of the district.

National Statistics and Information Authority in Farah said that the department of ID card distribution will be activated in the district in the coming year.

“Hopefully, in the new year, our personnel and everything will be ready and we will start our work,” said Abdul Karim Yusuf, head of the National Statistics and Information Authority in Farah.

Figures by the National Statistics and Information Authority in Farah show that at least 14,000 people hold identity cards in Farahrud while the remaining 70,000 are yet to get the national document.