Flag of Afghanistan

Islamic Emirate (Taliban)

Re-adopted at the Taliban's August 2021 takeover: a white field bearing the black Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. Afghanistan has changed its flag more often than almost any nation on Earth.

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

The black-red-green vertical tricolour with a white mosque emblem. It still represents Afghanistan at the UN and Olympics despite the 2021 government collapse.

Islamic State (mujahideen)

After the mujahideen took Kabul, this green-white-black tricolour became the flag of the internationally recognized Islamic State, flown by the Northern Alliance through the Taliban years.

Taliban-controlled areas (1996–2001):

1996–2001

Taliban white flag

The first Taliban regime flew a plain white banner — later adding the black Shahada — controlling most of the country at the same time the recognized Islamic State flag flew over the north.

Republic (Najibullah era)

Under Najibullah's "national reconciliation," the word "Democratic" was dropped and the emblem revised, softening the overt communist iconography.

Democratic Republic (DRA)

Following the Soviet intervention, the DRA restored the black-red-green tricolour with a new socialist emblem to broaden domestic appeal.

Communist red flag

After the 1978 Saur Revolution, the communist PDPA adopted an almost entirely red flag — widely unpopular for resembling a Soviet banner.

Republic of Afghanistan (Daoud)

After Mohammed Daoud Khan's 1973 coup abolished the monarchy, his republic adopted a flag with an eagle emblem, marking the break from royal symbolism.

Kingdom of Afghanistan

The black-red-green tricolour with the national emblem of a mosque and wheat sheaves flew throughout the long reign of Zahir Shah — Afghanistan's longest-lived flag.

Amanullah tricolour

King Amanullah introduced Afghanistan's first black-red-green vertical tricolour in 1928 after a European tour — the basis for most later designs.

Emirate of Afghanistan

A plain black field used during the reign of Habibullah Khan, characteristic of the early Emirate before national emblems were added.

Principality of Kandahar

A Barakzai principality in southern Afghanistan during the fragmentation before the Durrani lands were reunified.

Durrani Empire

The empire of Ahmad Shah Durrani, regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan, stretching from Persia to the Punjab.

Hotak dynasty

A Pashtun dynasty from Kandahar that briefly overthrew the Persian Safavids before being crushed by Nader Shah.

Emirate of Afghanistan (1880)

A plain black banner flown under Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, the 'Iron Amir', who consolidated the modern borders of Afghanistan as a buffer between the British and Russian empires.

Emirate of Afghanistan (1919)

The black flag with a central mosque-and-mihrab emblem flew when Afghanistan won full independence from Britain in 1919 under the reformist King Amanullah Khan.

Kingdom of Afghanistan (1929)

The brief flag of the Tajik rebel Habibullah Kalakani, who seized Kabul for nine months in 1929 during the civil war that toppled King Amanullah's modernizing reforms.

Kingdom of Afghanistan

The black-red-green triband with a mosque emblem flew over the long reign of King Zahir Shah, until his cousin Daoud Khan abolished the monarchy in a 1973 coup.

Principality of Herat

A semi-independent Afghan principality fought over by Persia and Britain in the 'Great Game', whose siege in 1837–38 helped trigger the First Anglo-Afghan War.