The Afghan afghani
Currency · AFN · ؋ · 1 country
Da Afghanistan Bank has issued the afghani since 1939, when it took paper money over from the treasury. The notes in use today date from October 2002, when a reform cut three zeros and retired the rival issues printed during the civil war. The unit is older: it replaced the Afghan rupee in the reign of Amanullah Khan.
The sign
Unicode encodes the sign ؋ as AFGHANI SIGN. In Latin script amounts are written with an abbreviation of the name, Af for one afghani and Afs for more, so a note reads Afs.500. The hundredth is the pul, a unit on paper with no coin behind it since 2002.
- ISO code
- AFN
- ISO number
- 971
- Subunit
- pul, 1/100
An amount, written out
؋1,234
- ؋1,234English
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
؋؋- CSS
content: "\060B";- JavaScript
"\u060B"- UTF-8
0xD8 0x8B- UTF-16
0x060B- UTF-32
0x0000060B
Where the Afghan afghani is the official currency
Afghanistan uses the afghani as its national money. Da Afghanistan Bank prints it and lets it float, with the rate set by the market.
About the Afghan afghani
Who issues the afghani and under what law
Da Afghanistan Bank was founded in Kabul under a cabinet approval dated 23 April 1939, with an initial capital of 120 million afghanis. Printing and issuing banknotes passed to it from the start, along with the government's other banking. Until 2002 it also took deposits and lent to traders like any commercial bank.
The bank's law now names price stability as its main objective. Monetary policy, exchange rate policy, and the printing and minting of notes and coins are listed among its core functions. It lets the afghani float, with the rate set by the market.
How the Kabuli rupee turned into the afghani
The Afghan rupee had circulated since 1891. The central bank's own history says the first official banknote, the Kabuli rupee, came out in the solar year 1298, about 1919, and was later renamed the afghani; its notes carried text in Pashto, Dari, Urdu and Turkish. Other accounts date the afghani to 1923, under King Amanullah Khan, divided into 100 puls and holding 9 grams of silver. Some people still call it a rupee in conversation.
Notes did not last. Nadir Shah stopped their circulation and trade went back to gold and silver coins. Paper money returned under Zahir Shah, who came to power in 1933, and Da Afghanistan Bank took over its production in 1939.
Why several afghanis circulated at once
Notes from the monarchy stopped being legal tender by 1991. Once civil war began in 1992, factions, foreign powers and forgers each printed afghani notes of their own, with no common standard and no respect for serial numbers. Notes of 5,000 and 10,000 afghanis appeared in 1993, and coins were withdrawn. In December 1996 the Taliban's central bank cancelled the contract with the Russian firm that had printed the currency since 1992. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who held Jowzjan Province, printed money for a time as well. Around seven versions were in circulation by early 2002.
What the currency reform replaced
The new afghani, with the ISO code AFN, was announced on 4 September 2002 and reached the market in early October. It swapped two kinds of old money at two rates: 1,000 old afghanis of the Rabbani government's issue for one new afghani, and 2,000 of Dostum's issue for one. The new notes were printed in Germany, and most of the old ones were destroyed by the end of that year.
The first series ran from one afghani to 1,000. Coins of one, two and five afghanis took over the three lowest notes on 11 April 2005. A new 1,000 afghani note followed in 2014 to defeat counterfeits. No pul coins were issued.
Why foreign money was banned
Afghanistan's foreign assets were frozen in 2021, and the afghani fell. The authorities then banned the use of foreign currencies inside the country, to push trade back onto the afghani.
Common questions
Questions about the Afghan afghani
Why do some Afghans still call the afghani a rupee?
The afghani replaced the Afghan rupee, which had circulated since 1891, and the central bank's own history says the first official note was called the Kabuli rupee before it was renamed. The old word stayed in everyday speech and some people still use it in conversation and in trade.
What happened to the old afghani notes in 2002?
They were exchanged and destroyed. By early 2002 around seven versions of the afghani were circulating, printed by the Rabbani government, by Abdul Rashid Dostum in the north and by forgers. The reform announced on 4 September 2002 swapped the Rabbani issues at 1,000 to one new afghani and the Dostum issues at 2,000 to one. New notes, printed in Germany, reached the market in early October, and most of the old notes were gone by the end of the year. For the first time in years a single central bank controlled all of the country's money.
Is the afghani split into smaller units?
On paper it is. The afghani is divided into 100 puls, and pul coins of 25 and 50 were struck from 1952. The reform of 2002 issued no subdivisions, so the one afghani coin brought in on 11 April 2005 is the lowest denomination in use.
Which bank prints Afghan money?
Da Afghanistan Bank, the central bank in Kabul, issues every afghani note and coin. It was set up in 1939 and took the printing of banknotes over from the treasury, which had issued its own notes from 1925. Its law lists the printing, minting and issuing of notes and coins among its core functions.