Left: The Taliban flag, which now symbolizes Afghanistan. Right: Afghanistan's previous flag, the flag of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
When the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's government fell, and the flag of Afghanistan changed.
In the 20th century, Afghanistan has had eighteen national flags, each serving as an official symbol of that nation. Most those flags contained the colors black, red, and green; in these designs, black represents the county's troubled history, red represents the fight for independence, and green represents hope and prosperity for the future.
Now flying over Kabul is the flag of the Taliban-controlled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a white field with a black Shahadah. The Shahadah reads: "I bear witness that none deserves worship except God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God".
The Taliban military offensive that led up to the recent national takeover began in May 2021. By early August, the Taliban had captured all but one of the country's thirty-four provincial capitals and controlled 65% of the country's area. The rapid territorial gains came as a direct result of the withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan.
Now, the free world watches, worrying over the wellbeing of all Afghan citizens at the hands of Taliban leaders.
At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General António Guterres said that about 18 million people, or approximately half of Afghanistan's population, need humanitarian assistance. The Council has urged that the Taliban cease all hostilities and negotiate a settlement "that upholds human rights, including for women, children, and minorities."
At Seterra, we're committed to keeping our map and flag quizzes accurate and up to date, so we respond to changes immediately. With regret, we have updated all affected quizzes to reflect the new flag of Afghanistan.
However, the Taliban government does not yet have international recognition. The situation is chaotic at the moment, but if the new leaders remain unrecognized, Seterra will remove the Taliban flag from the Seterra website, using no flag at all for Afghanistan, until a legitimate Afghani government regains power.
Update August 30th, 2021: Since international recognition of the new Taliban government seems to be far off at the moment, we have removed the Taliban flag and now use no flag at all for Afghanistan in our map and flag games.