"It's the right of all Afghans to have their ethnicity listed on the card."

"Ethnicity is mentioned in the constitution and in the national anthem, so it should be on the card too."

The controversy isn't over whether the government will put each person's ethnic identity on the official ID card. It's over the new cards that will have the information only within an electronic chip.

"In Afghanistan, everything is divided according to population size of the ethnicities," [says one student.] "The military, government jobs, spots in universities — if we are shown as less, then we get less."

He argues it's critical to list ethnicity so that the government and society know the exact percentage of each group. He and many others argue the percentage of Pashtuns is overstated, and as a result, they get a larger share of power and jobs.

"It's a competition," says Mohsen. "We want to have more power over other ethnicities."