Afghanistan Flag

A landlocked country, Afghanistan sits in the center of Asia. Afghanistan covers 251,772 square miles and has an estimated population of over thirty-one million people. Kabul, the largest city in Afghanistan, is also its capital.

Current history of the flag of Afghanistan shows that in 2002 to 2004, the transitional government adopted the flag of Afghanistan for the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan. This Afghanistan flag resembles the Afghanistan flag flown between 1930 and 1973 during the monarchy. The difference between the Afghanistan current flag and the Afghanistan flags from 1930 to 1973 is that they added a gold and yellow shahadah at the top of and centered above the coat of arms. According to Afghanistan flag history, they officially adopted the new flag on January 4, 2004.

The colors on the Afghanistan flag are black, green, and red, consisting of three equal, vertical stripes. According to the history on the Afghanistan flag, over the last twenty years, the Afghanistan flag color of green, red and black stripes were present on almost all the flags of Afghanistan. At the center of the Afghanistan flag is the distinctive Afghanistan emblem with a mosque that has its mihrab facing Mecca. Instead of black, green, and red, the Afghan Northern Alliance flag and pre-Taliban-era flag has black, white, and green horizontal stripes, instead but still has the same emblem.

Some of the historical Afghanistan flags used in the past include:

• 1880 to 1901 – this flag was flown under Abdur Rahman Khan rule
  
• 1901 to 1919 – this flag of Afghanistan flew under Habibullah Khan rule
  
• 1919 to 1928 – flown under Amanullah Khan/Shah rule
  
• 1928 – second flag flown under his rule but with the octogram removed and national seal slightly modified
  
• 1928 to 1929 – third flag flown under Amanullah Shah rule
  
• 1929 – flown under Habibullah Khan rule
  
• 1929 to 1930 – flown under Mohammed Nadir Shah rule
  
• 1930 to 1973 – second Afghanistan flag flown under Mohammed Nadir Shah rule
  
• 1973 to 1974 – flown under the Republic of Afghanistan
  
• 1974 to 1978 – second flag under the Republic of Afghanistan using the same colors but reinterpreting the colors differently
  
• 1978 – flown under the communist government
  
• 1978 to 1980 – Afghanistan flag flown under the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan