Last modified: 2023-12-09 by ian macdonald
Keywords: afghanistan | kabul |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
image by Olivier Touzeau, 23 June 2020
See also:
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also a
municipality, forming part of the greater Kabul Province, and divided into 22
districts. According to estimates in 2020, the population of Kabul is 4.222
million.
Located in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush mountains,
with an elevation of 1,790 metres (5,873 ft), Kabul is said to be over 3,500
years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Kabul
became the capital of Afghanistan (Durrani Empire) in 1776, during the reign of
Timur Shah Durrani.
The flag is dark blue with the city seal in white. I have found several
examples and there are variants of the flag of the municipality of Kabul.
Basically, the flag is dark blue with:
- the name of the municipality in a
semi-circle
- the municipal eagle with the key below
- the national emblem
of Afghanistan
- a date written under the national emblem: 1298 (۱۲۹۸) = 1919
for the independence from UK
and another date under the municipal eagle: 1389 (۱۳۸۹) = 2010, the year the
Afghan lower house was opened.
In the more often seen version of the flag,
all the elements are in white:
https://www.facebook.com/KabulMunicipality/photos/a.1436674829962264/2289299311366474/?type=3
https://www.facebook.com/KabulMunicipality/photos/a.1436674829962264/2284150428548029/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/KabulMunicipality/photos/a.1436674829962264/2279914438971628/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/KabulMunicipality/photos/a.1436674829962264/2265549040408168/?type=3&theater
https://twitter.com/AkdnAfg/status/1257977672111665152
Olivier
Touzeau, 23 June 2020
image by Olivier Touzeau, 23 June 2020
I have found an example with the eagle and the national emblem in gold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytwvhZA_pjk
Olivier Touzeau, 23 June 2020
image by Olivier Touzeau, 23 June 2020
And I have found an example with smaller elements all in gold:
https://www.facebook.com/KabulMunicipality/photos/a.1436674829962264/2279914425638296/?type=3&theater
Olivier Touzeau, 23 June 2020
image by Zachary Harden, 3 May 2022
There is a variant of the Kabul, Afghanistan flag where the gold eagle, holding
the key, is above the city name in Farsi. This flag was used by both the
UN-recognized government (https://km.gov.af/images/7553.jpg?1620622585)
and the de facto Taliban government (https://km.gov.af).
One detail is that the years that were placed on previous flags were
removed.
Zachary Harden, 3 May 2022
image located at www.orchideensammlung.de by Ron Lahav, 30 October 2006
Ibrahim M Stwoda, the former Librarian of the University of Kabul, reports
that the bannerette of the university is badly faded. According to Mr Stwoda, the
color of the flag is actually a light blue, but there was no real
standardization of colors so that he has personally seen the flag in everything
from the color of the United Nations flag to almost an
Air Force blue. The flag is, in his words, a 'standard rectangular shape', but
he doesn't provide actual dimensions. The seal of the university also appeared
in various formats; on the bannerette the open book was dark blue, with the
surrounding decoration in a lighter color, and this version also appeared on the
flag. However, there was another version of the seal in which the entire
decoration of the seal was open. In both cases the seal was in white. This flag
was in use from at least 1946 until the overthrow of the monarchy. There were
also subsidiary flags used by various university officials - the Rector had a
personal standard which was square shaped, with a golden fringe and the seal in
gold; Mr Stwoda says that the Deans of the various faculties were likewise
authorized to display a similar standard except that the fringe and seal were in
silver, although he does not ever recall having seen one actually being flown.
The Cadet Corps, which all male students were required to join, had the
university seal superimposed on a saltire of crossed swords. He did not however
provide any description as to the shape of the swords.
Mr Stwoda states that he has no idea whether the university used any flags
during the period from the fall of the monarchy to the Taliban ascendancy as he
and his family fled the country immediately after the Soviet puppet regime was
installed. The university was for all practical purposes closed under the
Taliban, and since their overthrow the university authorities have been more
concerned with getting the University of Kabul into normal operations than in
considering any matters relating to flags.
Ron Lahav, 30 October 2005