🇦🇫

Flag of Afghanistan

Asia

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Quick Facts

Capital
Kabul
Flag adopted
2021
Population
43,844,000
Area
652,230 km²
Languages
Dari, Pashto, Turkmen
Currency
Afghan afghani (؋) — AFN
Demonym
Afghan
Government
theocratic
Subregion
Southern Asia
Driving side
Right
Timezones
UTC+04:30
Independence
1919

Religions

  • Muslim 99.7%
  • Other 0.3%

About This Flag

The flag of Afghanistan has changed more times than almost any other country's. Under the Taliban government that took power in August 2021, the flag is a plain white field bearing the Shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) in black text and the Taliban's emblem.

The previous republic's flag — a black, red, and green vertical tricolor with the national emblem centered on the red stripe — had been in use since 2004. Afghanistan has had over 20 different flag designs since 1901, reflecting its turbulent political history of monarchies, republics, Soviet occupation, and civil war.

What the colors & design mean

The current white flag represents the Taliban's Islamic Emirate. The previous tricolor's black stood for the dark past, red for blood shed for independence, and green for prosperity and Islam. The national emblem featured a mosque with a mihrab and minbar, framed by sheaves of wheat.

black red green white

Pattern: Vertical Stripes

Bordering countries (6)

🇮🇷 Iran 🇵🇰 Pakistan 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 🇨🇳 China

Fun Facts

  • Afghanistan has changed its national flag more than 20 times since 1901, more frequently than almost any other country in the world.
  • The previous republic's flag featured a detailed national emblem that included a mosque, wheat sheaves, and the year 1298 in the Solar Hijri calendar (corresponding to 1919, the year of independence from British influence).
  • Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban also used a plain white flag, making the 2021 version a return to their earlier design.
  • The black, red, and green tricolor that represented the republic remains widely used by Afghan diaspora communities and opposition groups abroad.

Similar looking flags

These flags share similar colors and patterns:

🇦🇫 Kenya 🇦🇫 Libya 🇦🇫 Sudan 🇦🇫 Iraq 🇦🇫 Jordan

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