List of Afghan flags

It has been suggested that Afghan rebel flags be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2023.

This is a list of flags associated with Afghanistan.

National flag

Flag	Date	Use	Description
De facto (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan)
	15 August 2021–present	National flag	The Arabic Shahada in black on a white field in the calligraphic Thuluth script.
			The Arabic Shahada and "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in Pashto in black on a white field in the calligraphic Thuluth script.
De jure (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan)
	19 August 2013–present	National flag	Three vertical bands of black, red and green with the National Emblem in white centered on the red band and then slightly overlapping the black and green bands.
		National flag (variant)

Standards of the head of state

Flag	Date	Use	Description
former
	2004–2021	Standard of the President of Afghanistan under Ashraf Ghani and Hamid Karzai.	A black flag with a red circle with a white contour drawing of the national emblem in 2004 version.
	2004		A black flag with a red circle with a white contour drawing of the national emblem in 1990s version.
	1974–1978	Standard of the President of Afghanistan under Mohammad Daoud Khan.	A red flag with a black circle with a red drawing of the national emblem.
	1933–1973	Standard of the King of Afghanistan under Mohammad Zahir Shah (obverse and reverse).	National emblem on a red background on the obverse and royal tughra on the reverse.
	1931–1933	Standard of the King of Afghanistan under Mohammad Nadir Shah (obverse and reverse).
	1926–1929	Standard of the King of Afghanistan under Amanullah Khan (obverse and reverse).	Amanullah Khan's emblem on a red background on the obverse and royal tughra on the reverse. The emblem consists of two crossed swords, a headdress called kolah and a star, and all these elements were removed from the national emblem around the coronation of Amarullah as the first king of Afghanistan.

Loya Jirga

Flag	Date	Use	Description
former
	2003	Flag of the 2003 loya jirga.

Military flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021-present	Flag of the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan	White flag with the emblem of the Ministry of Defense.
former
	?–2021	Flag of the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan	Red flag with the emblem of the Ministry of Defense in a monochrome gold version.
	2015–2021	Flag of the Resolute Support Mission	A green flag with the official mission logo.
	2001–2014	Flags of the International Security Assistance Force

Army

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021-present	Flag of the Afghan Army
former
	1974–1980	Flag of the Afghan Army
	c. 1961—?
	?–1973
	1920s
Corps
	2007–2021	Flag of the Afghan National Army Commando Corps
	?–2021	Flag of the 209th Corps
		Flag of the 205th Corps
		Flag of the 207th Corps

Air Force

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021-present	Flag of the Afghan Air Force	[1]
former
	2010–2021	Flag of the Afghan Air Force

Police

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021–present	Flag of the Afghan National Police[2][3]
former
	2001–2021	Flag of the Afghan National Police

Customs service

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021–present	Flag of the Customs service of Afghanistan
former
	?–2021	Flag of the Customs service of Afghanistan

Olympic Committee

Flag	Date	Use	Description
current
	2021–present?	Flag of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan	A white flag with the national flag, the inscription "Afghanistan" and the Olympic rings.
former
	?–2021	Flag of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan	A white flag with the Olympic rings and inscription "National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan".
	1930s	Flag of the National Olympic Committee of the Kingdom of Afghanistan	A flag of unknown colors used at the Berlin Olympics contains a kolah and Olympic rings.

Historical flags

Flag	Date	Regime	Description
National flags
	2002–2004	Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan
	2002
	2001–2002	Islamic State of Afghanistan
	1997–2001	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (variant)
	1996–1997	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
	1992–2001	Islamic State of Afghanistan
	1992
	1987–1992	Republic of Afghanistan
	1980–1987	Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
	1980
	1978–1980
	1978
	1974–1978	Republic of Afghanistan
	1973–1974
	1931–1973	Kingdom of Afghanistan
	1929–1930
	1929
		Emirate of Afghanistan
	1929–1931	Emirate of Afghanistan, used in Herat
	1929	Kingdom of Afghanistan
	1929 and 1926–1928
	1928-1929	Kingdom of Afghanistan (possible appearance)
	1928	Kingdom of Afghanistan
	1921–1926/29	Emirate of Afghanistan
	1919–1921
	1901–1919
	1880–1901 1818–1855 1709–1738	Emirate of Afghanistan Principality of Qandahar Hotak dynasty
	1856–1919	Flag of the United Kingdom used to represent the Emirate of Afghanistan abroad
Local national flags
	1991 1996	Jihad flag used first by Islamic Emirate of Kunar and then Islamic Emirate of Badakhshan
	1818–1842	Emirate of Herat
	1830s	US flag with 23 stars used by Josiah Harlan as Prince of Ghor.
Other
	c. 1842	Pashtun banner captured at Jellalabad	An example of a Pashtun tribal battle flag. Red triangular banner with Shahada and green frame, woven red and yellow fringes were also present on the edges.[4]
	c. 1839	Pashtun banner captured at Ghazni	An example of a Pashtun tribal battle flag. Written are the names of the first 4 caliphs placed opposite each other (Abu Bakr أَبُو بَكْرٍ, ‘Umar عُمَر, Uthman عُثْمَان and Ali عَلِيّ)[5]

Political flags

Political parties flags

Flag	Date	Party	Description
current
	2005–present	Hezbollah Afghanistan
	2004–present	Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan	Red flag with a yellow star in the canton.
	2004–present	People's Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan
Link to file	2003–present	National United Party of Afghanistan	Party emblem on blue background.
	1997–present	Watan Party of Afghanistan	Party emblem on blue background.
Link to file	1992–present	National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan	National flag from 1974-1978 with the party emblem instead of the national emblem.
	1989–present	Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan	Party emblem on blue background.
	1979–present	National Islamic Front of Afghanistan	A black flag with a gold emblem in the canton. The emblem consists of crossed swords, a wreath of wheat and Takbir.
Link to file	1973–present	Afghanistan Liberation Organization	A red flag with three raised hands, holding a hammer, a sickle and a gun respectively.
	1972–present	Islamic Society	Green flag with a white emblem.
	1976–present	Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin	Green flag with a white emblem. The emblem contains many symbols of the national emblem, to which the open Quran adds. There is also Shahada under the emblem.
former
	1975–1979	Hezbi Islami	Green flag with a white emblem. The emblem contains many symbols of the national emblem, to which the open Quran adds.
	1965–1992	People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan	Red flag with gold party emblem in the canton. The emblem consists of an ear of wheat superimposed on a gear wheel. The emblem consists of an ear of wheat placed on a gear wheel, symbolizing farmers and workers. Another variant of the party's flag served for a short time as the national flag.
	1965–1992	Democratic Youth Organisation of Afghanistan, youth wing of the PDPA.	A red flag with the emblem moved towards the mast. The emblem consisted of PDPA symbols, a clenched fist, schematic mountains and a red star.

Rebel groups flags

This table does not include flags derived from rebels that became national flags. Such cases occurred once during the Saqqawists period in 1929 and twice in connection with the Taliban takeovers in 1996 and 2021.

Flag	Date	Group	Description
current
	2021–Present	National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, used together with the flags of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic State of Afghanistan[6][7]	A variant of the 1990s of the national flag used by Northern Alliance.
	2022–Present	Southern Turkestan Movement[8]	Red-blue-green tricolor with the white crescent moon and a star on a blue stripe. The star and crescent resembles the Kokbayraq flag.
	2015–Present	Variant of the Jihadist flag used in Afghanistan by Islamic State – Khorasan Province[9][10][11][12] and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (splinter faction)	The flag consists of the Black Standard with a white text of the Shahada emblazoned across it in depicts the second phrase of the shahada in the form of a depiction of the supposedly historical seal of Muhammad.[13]
	2021-present	Freedom and Democracy Front, Hazaristan Resistance Front[14]	The front announced its existence in October 2021. It operates mainly in the provinces of Maidan Wardak and Ghazni. It is composed exclusively of Hazaras, both ex-military and civilians. A spokesman for the front announced in a video released in October that the group's goal is to fight the Taliban and the ISKP throughout Hazarajat.[14]
	2014–present	Hazarajat Freedom Movement[15]	Two-color white and blue flag divided into 1/3 of its length with a wavy pattern
	1996–present	Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
	1988–present	Turkistan Islamic Party[16]	White text of the Shahada above a white crescent moon and a star on a blue background. The star and crescent comes from the Kokbayraq flag, while the Shahada symbolizes Islam.
	1979–Present	Variant of the Jihadist flag used in Afghanistan by : Sacrifice Front (2013–present), Al-Qaeda (1988–present) Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah (1986–present) Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (1998–2015) Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War	The flag consists of the Black Standard with a white text of the Shahada emblazoned across it in calligraphy style writing.
former
Link to file	1987–1989	Flag of Hezbollah was used by everal factions of Tehran Eight[17]
	1979	Flag associated with the Herat insurgents in 1979.	A green flag with white Takbir inscription.
	1916–1934	Flag of the Basmachi movement.

Other

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	2014	Proposed flag of Khorosan[18]	Yellow-red-violet tricolor with the inscription "new Khorosan".
	1970s	Flag used in Nuristan in the 1970s, it is not known if it was an ethnic or political flag.	A white and red flag with stripes separated by a tenfold triangular wave.

Ethnic groups flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	2013–present	Flag of Hazaristan[19]	Blue-white-yellow tricolor, the colors symbolizes the Hazara people's roots and origin, sky, their loyalty, long winter in Hazaristan, their future and development.[20][21][22][23]
	1947–present	Flag of Pashtunistan
	?–present	Flag of Pashayi people

Red Crescent Society

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1934–present	Flags of the Afghan Red Crescent Society	Red Crescent surrounded by the association's names written in black in Pashto at the top and Dari at the bottom.
	1935	Rejected red Mehrab-e-Ahmar project to replace the red crescent[24]	A red mosque similar to the national emblem on a white background

Corporations

Airlines

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1965–present	Flag of Ariana Afghan Airlines	The flag features an blue Afghan swallow bird from logo on white field. Blue representing precious lapis lazuli stones.[25]

Unknown flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	early 19th century	Flags from the Afghanistan Military school at the time of Amir Habibullah Khan

Misattributed flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1980s–present	A flag representing the Hazaras in pan-Turkish concepts.[26]	A blue flag with a gold symbol found on Hephthalites and Kushan coins. Blue is the traditional color of steppe nomads, it means the blue sky of the god Tengri. This has no direct connection with the Hazaras, but it connects Turks and Mongols.
	1969–present	Attributed flag of Ghaznavids, designed by Akib Öbek in 1969 as part of concept of 16 Great Turkic Empires	Green glag with a grey crescent in canton and a peacock. It can appear in many artistic variants.[27]
	?–present	A fictitious flag of Ghaznavids spread on the Internet	A black field with a golden full moon.
	1969–present	Attributed flag of Hephthalites, designed by Akib Öbek in 1969 as part of concept of 16 Great Turkic Empires	White flag with three yellow stars placed vertically in upper hoist. White may refer to the White Huns, which was one of the terms for the Hephthalites.[28]
	?	Alleged alternative variant of the flag of Democratic Republic of Afghanistan	National flag from 1978–1980 in green instead of red.[29]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flags of Afghanistan.

See also

• Flag of Afghanistan
• Emblem of Afghanistan
• Afghan rebel flags

References