Flag of Afghanistan

Flag of Afghanistan
	; ;
Vexillological symbol :	?
Aspect ratio:	2: 3
Officially accepted:	19th of August 2013

The flag of Afghanistan has changed more often in the past than that of any other state. This reflects the eventful history and political changes that the country has experienced since its foundation.

description

Today's flag of Afghanistan consists of three vertical stripes of equal size: black on the left, red in the middle and green on the right. In the center of the flag is the historic coat of arms of Afghanistan : a mosque with a mihrab pointing to Mecca .

The current flag style was adopted in 2002 by the then transitional government. It follows the Afghan flag during the monarchy between 1930 and 1973. Initially, only the Shahada and "Allahu akbar" were added , above the coat of arms, in the middle of the flag.

On January 4th, 2004 the coat of arms was changed again. A rising sun with nine long and eight short sunbeams was added, replaced in 1348 by the year of independence 1298 (1919 AD) and the flags in the coat of arms are now divided into three parts instead of continuously white. In addition to flags with white coats of arms, flags with gold coats of arms and white coats of arms with colored flags are also in use. The ratio of the sides can also vary.

Origin of the flag colors

The first black, red and green flag was created in the time of King Amanullah Khan (1919–1930). During this period, various Loja Jirgas were held to initiate reforms.

Flag symbol of the German ISAF in Afghanistan since 2001 with the inscription "Alman" for "Germany (land)"

On February 22, 1928, King Amanullah Khan traveled to Germany for five days and visited Berlin and Munich . Since 1919, Germany had supported the Afghan government and people financially, politically and culturally in almost all areas of infrastructure, technology and education. Amanullah Khan is said to have been inspired by the shape and color of the black, red and gold flag of Germany , because in the same year a three-color flag with horizontal stripes in black, red and green was introduced in Afghanistan for the first time. The white national coat of arms adorned the center.

Since similar tricolors were also used between 1980 and 1992, when the German ISAF was deployed from 2001 there were fears that this could lead to misunderstandings. For this reason, German military vehicles in Afghanistan use a flag logo with Darī written on the German federal flag in white “Germany (land)”.

Only a few months after the introduction of the first tricolor , the horizontal stripes were replaced by vertical ones. The coat of arms also changed. The mihrab and minbar , which were surrounded by a sun , were replaced by the sun, star and ear of wheat.

King Amanullah Khan used the tricolor to legitimize Afghanistan as an independent state. The sun as a symbol of light and fire indicated the legacy of the Iranian- Bactrian Zoroastrian cultural area.

Why the colors black, red and green were chosen and what their meanings were at the time is controversial. It is unclear whether the explanations below were actually correct at the time.

First version

The Afghan historian Ghulam Muhammad Ghubar is of the opinion in his book "Afghanistan in the course of its history" that the three colors of the flag of Amanullah Khan , which was black, red and green as early as 1928, represent the following three periods or ages of history The soil of today's Afghanistan symbolized:

The flags of the Durrani Dynasty, the Sadozai Dynasty, also of Amanullah Khan, were black until 1928.
Middle Ages : The colors of the flags in areas of what is now Afghanistan were predominantly red at that time. As an example, the author calls the color of the flags of the ancient Iran , Khorasan and the flags of the Ghaznavids as of Mahammud of Ghazni . In fact, the Ghaznavid flags are red. Likewise, the flags of emperors and kings, including the Afghan dynasties, such as Zahir Shah .
Antiquity : At this time the colors of the flags in Bactria are said to have been yellow due to Zoroastrian traditions or green due to Nouruz . Mir Ghubar did not provide clear evidence.

Second version

Black stands for the sovereignty of the country and was taken over from the previous flags.
Red stands for modernity and progress.
Green stands for Islam.

King Amanullah Khan is said to have picked up the red based on the example of the neighboring Soviet Union . An explanation that seems logical, since the state coat of arms from September 1928 clearly had communist models in its design. The communist red, yellow-rimmed star can also be found here.

Third version

During the Battle of Maiwand in the Second Anglo-Afghan War around 1880, Malalai (who is often referred to as the Afghan Maiden of Orléans in the western world ) is said to have raised the black flag of the Durani dynasty, which was in the hand of a fallen soldier with blood and dust had become discolored. Others believe that she turned her headscarf into a war flag, with which she previously doctored the fallen soldiers.

Modern explanations

A modern explanation states:

Black stands for the dark pre-Islamic times.
Red stands for communism .
Green stands for Islam.

A representative from the Ministry of Border Affairs for the borders made the following statement:

Black stands for the 19th century when Afghanistan was occupied.
Red stands for the struggle for independence.
Green stands for independence gained.

Another Afghan source varies the meaning of the green color, stating that it stands for peace, fertility and growth.

Flag history

Afghanistan looks back on a rich history of flags, no other nation has changed the appearance of its national flag so often in recent times .

Notes on this list:

There are numerous publications on the history of the Afghan flag. T. make significantly different information. This list tries to accommodate all known flags and to avoid contradictions as far as possible.
The information on details such as color nuances, aspect ratios, size and positions of the coat of arms also differ from one another.
The dates simply indicate the day the government announced the use of a new flag; the actual use of the new flag may not have occurred until much later, depending on the region.
Especially during the turmoil of the civil war from the 1990s on, numerous, more or less different variants of the national flag emerged.

Flags of Afghanistan
#	flag	Aspect ratio	Period	description
1		3: 5	1880 to 1901	Flag under Abdur Rahman Khan
2		3: 5	1901 to April 13, 1919	Flag from the time of Habibullah Khan , with his seal of rule
3		3: 5	April 13, 1919 to 1921	new seal of rule of Amanullah Khan ( Octagon )
4th		3: 5	1921 to June 10, 1926	Coat of arms of the emirate of Afghanistan as an oval
5		2: 3	June 10, 1926 to July 1, 1928	Amanullah Khan changes his title from emir to shah , and the coat of arms changes as a result
6th		3: 5	July 1, 1928 to September 2, 1928	New, more modern flag of the Kingdom of Afghanistan , supposedly inspired by the German flag, after Amanullah Khan's return from his trip to Europe.
7th		2: 3	September 1928 to January 14, 1929	Black for the past, red for the blood spilled in the struggle for independence, green for the future
8th		3: 5	January 14, 1929 to January 17, 1929	Inayatullah Khan's rule for three days , during which time the first flag of Amanullah Khan was probably used again.
9		3: 5	January 17, 1929 to October 15, 1929	Reign of Habibullah Kalakâni , colors were used as early as the 13th century during the rule of the Mongols .
10		2: 3	October 15, 1929 to October 31, 1931	Combination of the flag from September 1928 with the old national coat of arms.
11		2: 3	October 31, 1931 to July 17, 1973	Flag as before, changed coat of arms with a mosque, surrounded by a wreath of ears. According to legend, the founder of modern Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Durrani , was crowned with a wheat wreath. The year "1348" in the Islamic solar calendar (1929 in the Gregorian calendar ), the year of the coronation of Mohammed Nadir Shah .
12		2: 3	July 17, 1973 to May 9, 1974	The same flag as its predecessor, but without the year in the coat of arms
13		2: 3	May 9, 1974 to April 27, 1978	Coat of arms with a stylized eagle depicting a small mosque, surrounded by a wreath of wheat, above a rising sun as a symbol of the new republic. Inscription on the banner Da Afghanistan Jamhuriyat ( Pashtun د افغانستان جمهوريتfor "the Republic of Afghanistan ") and the date 26. Changash 1352 in the Islamic solar calendar , the day the republic was founded (July 17, 1973). Black stands for the past, red for the struggle for independence and the revolution, green for agriculture.
14th		2: 3	April 21, 1978 to October 19, 1978	Overthrow of Mohammed Daoud Khan , coat of arms removed from the flag
15th		1: 2	October 19, 1978 to April 21, 1980	Red is the color of communism and symbolizes the struggle against imperialism, feudalism and other forms of oppression. The Pashtun word in the middle of the coat of arms means "the masses", the five-pointed star stands for the five nationalities of the country. The inscription on the banner reads " Saurrevolution 1357" ( April Revolution 1978 ). The wheat wreath stands for the agricultural work of the majority of the population and is a reminder of the tradition that the first Aryan Yama and the first Afghan king, Akhmad Shah, were crowned with wheat.
16		1: 2	April 21, 1980 to November 30, 1987	Restoration of the traditional colors in the newly established Democratic Republic of Afghanistan : black for the old Afghan flags, red for the blood of heroes, green for Islam, the country's wealth and the victory over imperialism.
17th		1: 2	November 30, 1987 to April 27, 1992	Same flag as before, new coat of arms without a book and the red star . Black refers to the color of the Abbasid Caliphate and Abu Muslim , red to the flag of Mahmud of Ghaznis , green for Islam, the fertility of the land and the happiness of its people.
18th		1: 2	April 28, 1992 to December 2, 1992	Green-white-black horizontal with Arabic inscription in the green and white field (“ Allahu Akbar ” (above) and the Shahāda (middle)). There are numerous, more or less different variants of this flag.
19th		1: 2	December 2, 1992 to September 27, 1996	The flag remained in use by the (internationally recognized) government later known as the Northern Alliance until 2001 . There are also numerous variants of this flag.
20th		4: 5	September 27, 1996 to October 27, 1997	Flag of the Taliban , the de facto national flag after the conquest of Kabul
21st		2: 3	October 27, 1997 to November 13, 2001	Flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , the Taliban government was recognized by only three states. Most publications therefore continued to fly the 1992 flag.
22nd		1: 2	November 13, 2001 to January 27, 2002	Used in the Rabbani government during the Petersberg Conference . Several variants of flags from the past three decades were in use depending on the war faction, especially the flags since 1992.
23		1: 2	January 27, 2002 to January 4, 2004	Variants with gold or no coat of arms were also used
24		2: 3	January 4, 2004 to August 19, 2013	Changed coat of arms, there are also flags with gold, gray or without a coat of arms.
25th		2: 3	since August 19, 2013