Taliban bans official Afghan tricolour flag

Kabul [Afghanistan], March 21 (ANI): The Taliban regime in Afghanistan on Sunday issued a decree banning the official tricolour flag of the internationally-recognised Afghan government (black, red, green) and replaces it with the white coloured flag of the Islamic emirate.
Under the decree, all government agencies in the country and abroad must now use the white-coloured Taliban flag with a black-ink Islamic scripture reading "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet," Sputnik News Agency reported.
The decree prohibits the Taliban officials to appear in public with the tricolour Afghan flag.
The development comes weeks after the Taliban ordered the residents of Khost province in Afghanistan to remove the Afghan national flag from the rooftops of their houses and their vehicles.
The Afghan people had been requesting the Taliban not to change the flag as it belongs to no leader and faction, but to the nation, Khaama press had reported.
Notably, the leaders of the Islamic Emirate has been making extensive attempts to achieve international recognition.
Taliban's acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi on Friday said that the Islamic Emirate is inclusive and has fulfilled all the requirements and it should be recognized by the international community, reported Tolo News.
Last year, in August, the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan and established an interim government led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who had served as the foreign minister during the first Taliban rule in the late 1990s.
The new authorities have not yet been internationally recognized even though the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the country's name used by the Taliban) was declared restored in December.
The coming of the Taliban to power has given rise to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, with UN agencies estimating that more than 50 per cent of the country's population is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. (ANI)