Flag of Afghanistan

The national flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (د افغانستان بیرغ; پرچم افغانستان), also used as the flag of the Taliban, consists of a white field with a black Shahada. It was adopted on 15 August 2021 with the victory of the Taliban in the 2001–2021 war. Since the Anglo-Afghan War of 1919, also known as the War of Independence, Afghanistan has used about 19 national flags, more than any other country in this period. The national flag had black, red and green colors most of the time during the period. The tricolor flag of the internationally-recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which remains in use internationally and by resistance movements against the Taliban inside Afghanistan, has vertical black, red and green stripes. It has the national emblem in white at the center. The emblem, which is surrounded by sheaves of wheat, includes a Shahada; a Takbir; rays of sun; a mosque with a mihrab, minbar and two Afghan flags; the year 1298 (١۲۹٨) in the Solar Hijri calendar (i.e. Gregorian 1919); and an inscription stating Afghanistan (افغانستان). A similar flag with three vertical stripes of the same colors, which had an emblem surrounded by sheaves of wheat, was first flown by King Amanullah Khan in July 1928. During the Afghan Independence Day rallies in Jalalabad and other cities on 18 and 19 August 2021, the Taliban killed three people and injured over a dozen others for removing Taliban flags and displaying the tricolor Afghan flags. The Taliban has issued a decree requiring the use of the Islamic Emirate's flag in all official settings. The current flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a plain white flag with the black words of the shahada in the centre. The white stands for “the (Islamic Movement of Taliban’s) purity of faith and government”; the flag incorporated the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, after 1997. The current national flag differs from the banners of other jihadist groups, including those of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, in having white as its chief colour and the shahada in black, an inversion of the design of the coloring of most jihadist groups' banners.