Last modified: 2001-10-13 by santiago dotor
Keywords: afghanistan | historical | wreath | star (yellow) | text: pashto | coat of arms |
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![[Afghanistan 1978-1980]](../images/a/af-1978.gif)
by Mark Sensen
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Red field with gold emblem in upper hoist consisting of script characters, wreath, and star.
Nick Artimovich, 19 March 1996
Actually, this inscription and device was the coat-of-arms of Afghanistan after the overthrow of Noor al-Taraki by Barbak Kamal. (I hope I remembered that order correctly). The main word is Pashto for "the masses". The first line of the scroll's inscription translates as "Saur Revolution 1357" which is the Afghani date of the April 1978 change of government. I do not know what the last two lines of the scroll say. If I am not mistaken, I believe this may have been the only version of the Afghani national flag which did not feature black in its design until the Taliban's white banner came into use.
Daniel S. Padovano, 1 November 1997
Smith 1985 says that the flag used after the 27th April 1978 revolution carries the words The Masses and below, in the scroll, Revolution Saur 1357 (ie. April 1978) in Pashto language.
Santiago Dotor, 12 November 98
The writing on the red flag is pronounced Khalq meaning Masses. It is an Arabic word incorporated into the Dari and Pashtu languages. Khalq was the party that overthrew the Republic in 1973. Its two party and government leaders were Nur Muhammad Taraki and then Hafizullah Amin. When the Soviets invaded the country in December 1979, the flag changed back to the tricolor pattern.
Mir Hekmatullah Sadat, 6 May 1999
A horizontal version of this flag is pictured in Smith 1981 with the emblem centered near the top of the flag.
Marcus Wendel, 6 September 1999
![[Afghanistan Sep.1928-Jan.1929, coat-of-arms]](../images/a/af)1978.gif)
(Click on image to see full size detail)
by Peter Laursen
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