KABUL, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 16 million Afghans have received electronic or computerized national identity cards (ID) since the issuance of the national identity document seven years ago, spokesman of the country's National Statistics and Information Authority Mohammad Halim Rafi said.

"Since the start of the issuance of the national ID in 2018, more than 16 million Afghans have received electronic national identity cards and out of these, more than 10 million received over the past four years during the current government," the national Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA) quoted Rafi on Sunday night as saying.

According to the official, the interim government has already opened a national ID card destruction center in the United Arab Emirates to serve Afghans and is planning to open similar centers in Iran, Pakistan, Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia in the future.

According to official figures, the population of Afghanistan is around 36.4 million.