Afghan Medals for ID

[westfale]

Hi,

I've got these afghan medals from an comrade coming home from service in afghanistan, and due to the research here I can identify three of them: top, right and bottom, but

- I'm not shure about the ribbon of the medal right

and

_ I cannot identify the medal on the left side.

Could someone here help me to get some details about these medal?

Thanks a lot for your help!

westfale

[westfale]

And here the rearside of the medals...

[westfale]

And, at least, the medal of the left side in detail:

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks for these and for this detail. This is a new one, and an odd one. From the royalist pre-revolutionary period. I suspect teh ribbon is wrong. Let me check to see if I can find anything.

The others I think you know and, yes, the ribbon on the Medal of Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan (on the right) is wrong.

[westfale]

Ed,

you are great - your article about the afghan medals was a phantastic?help?for?these?medals?to?find?out,?and?I?hope?you?can?help?me?with?th

e?medal?I?ask?for...

What is the correct ribbon for the medal in the right side? Due to the poor conditions?(sorry, but a flash was not the best idea, so I made the pictures without) the colors are not really shown, so the right one has an green ribbon, and the ribbon of the medal left was "traditional" black-red-green.

Thanks again - hope you find some more information!

westfale

p.s.: sorry for the english grammar mistakes I made, but it's not my home language...

[westfale]

Back again for some more information, sorry

I was really surprised to see how accurate the ribbon of the medal of the left side was made - not folded an a hole, no, there was a "system" of an medal bar, an hook and a "holder" for the ribbon?all?of them inside, so it is really on high level (probably for on officer???)! Never see such an construct before during my long period of collecting medals, also from the "eastside"...

westfale

[Ed_Haynes]

What is the correct ribbon for the medal in the right side? Due to the poor conditions?(sorry, but a flash was not the best idea, so I made the pictures without) the colors are not really shown, so the right one has an green ribbon, and the ribbon of the medal left was "traditional" black-red-green.

For the Medal of Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan see: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2350 and http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=12313&st=45

If the medal on the left is the traditional Afghan tricolored ribbon, then it may be the right one (looked Iraqi - black and red - to me). I'd be very susprised if the mount is correct. A lkot of stuff is invented for sale to the occupation forces. Let me squint and get dictionaries out on the reverse.

[Dave Danner]

Clockwise from the 12 o'clock position:

jihad = jihad

muqawamat = resistance

azadi = freedom

sulh - peace

The coat of arms on the obverse is that of the current state, adopted I believe in 2004.

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks, Dave. Whatever it is, this is one of the first contemporary Afghan medals to be put on record.

[Ulsterman]

what was/is the one on the far right-on the Soviet style mounting (pic. of a tower)?

[westfale]

@ Ulsterman,

yes, indeed it look like the picture of a tower; for more info look at ed's link given before: For the Medal of Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan see: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2350 and http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=12313&st=45

@ Ed,

the medal seems to get very interesting, so I will put some better and detailed pictures (especially about the small arabic "letters" shown at the front below the main)?here?tomorrow?afternoon!

Edited December 17, 2007 by westfale

[Dave Danner]

Looking more closely at the numbers at the bottom, I think this is the 2002-2004 coat of arms.

That coat of arms, as here, had the date "1348", which corresponds on the Arabic calendar to 1929, the year Nadir Shah came to the throne. This was also the date on the royal coat of arms, which lacked the shahada and "Allah akbar" at the top.

The current coat of arms has the date "1298", which is 1919 on the Persian calendar. This commemorates what Afghans celebrate as Independence Day - August 19, 1919, when the Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed.

[westfale]

Due to this really iteresting discussion I made the pictures today

Here are two in better quality for a detailed look at the arabic letters/numbers:

[westfale]

And, at least, the bottom of the front:

[Ulsterman]

any chance that's a "victory tower"?

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/...ent_6545449.htm

[westfale]

@ ulsterman

Dave Danner said in his article (the link ist given before) that this might be the "minaret of Maiwand" in kabul, so in my oppinion it's not a "victory tower".

@ dave

Hope the detailed pictures help a little bit to give some more information about this medal...