title: Flag of Japan

text: The use of the national flag grew as Japan sought to develop an empire, and the "Hinomaru" was present at celebrations after victories in the First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. The flag was also used in war efforts throughout the country. A Japanese propaganda film in 1934 portrayed foreign national flags as incomplete or defective with their designs, while the Japanese flag is perfect in all forms. In 1937, a group of girls from Hiroshima Prefecture showed solidarity with Japanese soldiers fighting in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, by eating "flag meals" that consisted of an umeboshi in the middle of a bed of rice. The "Hinomaru bento" became the main symbol of Japan's war mobilization and solidarity with its soldiers until the 1940s.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Japan's early victories in the Sino-Japanese War resulted in the "Hinomaru" again being used for celebrations. It was seen in the hands of every Japanese during parades.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Textbooks during this period also had the "Hinomaru" printed with various slogans expressing devotion to the Emperor and the country. Patriotism was taught as a virtue to Japanese children. Expressions of patriotism, such as displaying the flag or worshiping the Emperor daily, were all part of being a "good Japanese".


title: Flag of Japan

text: The flag was a tool of Japanese imperialism in the occupied Southeast Asian areas during the Second World War: people had to use the flag, and schoolchildren sang "Kimigayo" in morning flag raising ceremonies. Local flags were allowed for some areas such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Manchukuo. In Korea which was part of the Empire of Japan, the "Hinomaru" and other symbols were used to declare that the Koreans were subjects of the empire.


title: Flag of Japan

text: During the Pacific War, Americans coined the derogatory term "meatballs" for the "Hinomaru" and Japanese military aircraft insignia. To the Japanese, the "Hinomaru" was the "Rising Sun flag that would light the darkness of the entire world". To Westerners, it was one of the Japanese military's most powerful symbols.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The "Hinomaru" was the "de facto" flag of Japan throughout World War II and the occupation period. During the occupation of Japan after World War II, permission from the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAPJ) was needed to fly the "Hinomaru". Sources differ on the degree to which the use of the "Hinomaru" flag was restricted; some use the term "banned;" however, while the original restrictions were severe, they did not amount to an outright ban.


title: Flag of Japan

text: After World War II, an ensign was used by Japanese civil ships of the United States Naval Shipping Control Authority for Japanese Merchant Marines. Modified from the "E" signal code, the ensign was used from September 1945 until the U.S. occupation of Japan ceased. U.S. ships operating in Japanese waters used a modified "O" signal flag as their ensign.


title: Flag of Japan

text: On 2 May 1947, General Douglas MacArthur lifted the restrictions on displaying the "Hinomaru" in the grounds of the National Diet Building, on the Imperial Palace, on the Prime Minister's residence and on the Supreme Court building with the ratification of the new Constitution of Japan. Those restrictions were further relaxed in 1948, when people were allowed to fly the flag on national holidays. In January 1949, the restrictions were abolished and anyone could fly the "Hinomaru" at any time without permission. As a result, schools and homes were encouraged to fly the "Hinomaru" until the early 1950s.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Since World War II, Japan's flag has been criticized for its association with the country's militaristic past. Similar objections have also been raised to the current national anthem of Japan, "Kimigayo". The feelings about the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo" represented a general shift from a patriotic feeling about "Dai Nippon" – Great Japan – to the pacifist and anti-militarist "Nihon". Because of this ideological shift, the flag was used less often in Japan directly after the war even though restrictions were lifted by the SCAPJ in 1949.


title: Flag of Japan

text: As Japan began to re-establish itself diplomatically, the "Hinomaru" was used as a political weapon overseas. In a visit by Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun to the Netherlands, the "Hinomaru" was burned by Dutch citizens who demanded that he either be sent home to Japan or tried for the deaths of Dutch prisoners of war during the Second World War. Domestically, the flag was not even used in protests against a new Status of Forces Agreement being negotiated between the U.S. and Japan. The most common flag used by the trade unions and other protesters was the red flag of revolt.


title: Flag of Japan

text: An issue with the "Hinomaru" and national anthem was raised once again when Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympic Games. Before the Olympic Games, the size of the sun disc of the national flag was changed partly because the sun disc was not considered striking when it was being flown with other national flags. Tadamasa Fukiura, a color specialist, chose to set the sun disc at two-thirds of the flag's length. Fukiura also chose the flag colors for the 1964 games as well as for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.


title: Flag of Japan

text: In 1989, the death of Emperor Shōwa once again raised moral issues about the national flag. Conservatives felt that if the flag could be used during the ceremonies without reopening old wounds, they might have a chance to propose that the "Hinomaru" become the national flag without being challenged about its meaning. During an official six-day mourning period, flags were flown at half staff or draped in black bunting all across Japan. Despite reports of protesters vandalizing the "Hinomaru" on the day of the Emperor's funeral, schools' right to fly the Japanese flag at half-staff without reservations brought success to the conservatives.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The "Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem" was passed in 1999, choosing both the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo" as Japan's national symbols. The passage of the law stemmed from the suicide of the principal of in Sera, Hiroshima, Toshihiro Ishikawa, who could not resolve a dispute between his school board and his teachers over the use of the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo". The Act is one of the most controversial laws passed by the Diet since the 1992 "Law Concerning Cooperation for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Other Operations", also known as the "International Peace Cooperation Law".


title: Flag of Japan

text: Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) decided to draft legislation to make the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo" official symbols of Japan in 2000. His Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hiromu Nonaka, wanted the legislation to be completed by the 10th anniversary of Emperor Akihito's enthronement. This is not the first time legislation was considered for establishing both symbols as official. In 1974, with the backdrop of the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan and the 1973 oil crisis, Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka hinted at a law being passed enshrining both symbols in the law of Japan. In addition to instructing the schools to teach and play "Kimigayo", Tanaka wanted students to raise the "Hinomaru" flag in a ceremony every morning, and to adopt a moral curriculum based on certain elements of the Imperial Rescript on Education pronounced by the Meiji Emperor in 1890. Tanaka was unsuccessful in passing the law through the Diet that year.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The main supporters of the bill were the LDP and the Komeito (CGP), while the opposition included the Social Democratic Party (SDPJ) and Communist Party (JCP), who cited the connotations both symbols had with the war era. The CPJ was further opposed for not allowing the issue to be decided by the public. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) could not develop party consensus on it. DPJ President and future prime minister Naoto Kan stated that the DPJ must support the bill because the party already recognized both symbols as the symbols of Japan. Deputy Secretary General and future prime minister Yukio Hatoyama thought that this bill would cause further divisions among society and the public schools. Hatoyama voted for the bill while Kan voted against it.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Before the vote, there were calls for the bills to be separated at the Diet. Waseda University professor Norihiro Kato stated that "Kimigayo" is a separate issue more complex than the "Hinomaru" flag. Attempts to designate only the "Hinomaru" as the national flag by the DPJ and other parties during the vote of the bill were rejected by the Diet. The House of Representatives passed the bill on 22 July 1999, by a 403 to 86 vote. The legislation was sent to the House of Councilors on 28 July and was passed on 9 August. It was enacted into law on 13 August.


title: Flag of Japan

text: On 8 August 2009, a photograph was taken at a DPJ rally for the House of Representatives election showing a banner that was hanging from a ceiling. The banner was made of two "Hinomaru" flags cut and sewn together to form the shape of the DPJ logo. This infuriated the LDP and Prime Minister Tarō Asō, saying this act was unforgivable. In response, DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama (who voted for the Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem) said that the banner was not the "Hinomaru" and should not be regarded as such.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Passed in 1870, the Prime Minister's Proclamation No. 57 had two provisions related to the national flag. The first provision specified who flew the flag and how it was flown; the second specified how the flag was made. The ratio was seven units width and ten units length (7:10). The red disc, which represents the sun, was calculated to be three-fifths of the hoist width. The law decreed the disc to be in the center, but it was usually placed one-hundredth () towards the hoist. (this makes the disc appear centered when the flag is flying; this technique is used in other flags, such as the Flag of Bangladesh). On 3 October of the same year, regulations about the design of the merchant ensign and other naval flags were passed. For the merchant flag, the ratio was two units width and three units length (2:3). The size of the disc remained the same, but the sun disc was placed one-twentieth () towards the hoist.


title: Flag of Japan

text: When the "Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem" passed, the dimensions of the flag were slightly altered. The overall ratio of the flag was changed to two units width by three units length (2:3). The red disc was shifted towards the center, but the overall size of the disc stayed the same. The background of the flag is white and the center is a , but the exact color shades were not defined in the 1999 law. The only hint given about the red colour is that it is a "deep" shade.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Issued by the Japan Defense Agency (now the Ministry of Defense) in 1973 (Showa 48), specifications list the red color of the flag as 5R 4/12 and the white as N9 in the Munsell color chart. The document was changed on 21 March 2008 (Heisei 20) to match the flag's construction with current legislation and updated the Munsell colours. The document lists acrylic fiber and nylon as fibers that could be used in construction of flags used by the military. For acrylic, the red color is 5.7R 3.7/15.5 and white is N9.4; nylon has 6.2R 4/15.2 for red and N9.2 for white. In a document issued by the Official Development Assistance (ODA), the red color for the "Hinomaru" and the ODA logo is listed as DIC 156 and CMYK 0-100-90-0. During deliberations about the "Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem", there was a suggestion to either use a shade or use one from the color pool of the Japanese Industrial Standards.


title: Flag of Japan

text: When the "Hinomaru" was first introduced, the government required citizens to greet the Emperor with the flag. There was some resentment among the Japanese over the flag, resulting in some protests. It took some time for the flag to gain acceptance among the people.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Before World War II, all homes were required to display "Hinomaru" on national holidays. Since the war, the display of the flag of Japan is mostly limited to buildings attached to national and local governments such as city halls; it is rarely seen at private homes or commercial buildings, but some people and companies have advocated displaying the flag on holidays. Although the government of Japan encourages citizens and residents to fly the "Hinomaru" during national holidays, they are not legally required to do so. Since the Emperor's 80th Birthday on 23 December 2002, the Kyushu Railway Company has displayed the "Hinomaru" at 330 stations.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Starting in 1995, the ODA has used the "Hinomaru" motif in their official logo. The design itself was not created by the government (the logo was chosen from 5,000 designs submitted by the public) but the government was trying to increase the visualization of the "Hinomaru" through their aid packages and development programs. According to the ODA, the use of the flag is the most effective way to symbolise aid provided by the Japanese people.


title: Flag of Japan

text: During World War II in Japanese culture, it was a popular custom for friends, classmates, and relatives of a deploying soldier to sign a "Hinomaru" and present it to him. The flag was also used as a good luck charm and a prayer to wish the soldier back safely from battle. One term for this kind of charm is . One tradition is that no writing should touch the sun disc. After battles, these flags were often captured or later found on deceased Japanese soldiers. Some of these flags have become souvenirs, and some are being returned to Japan and the descendants of the deceased.


title: Flag of Japan

text: In modern times, the "Hinomaru Yosegaki" is still being used. The tradition of signing the "Hinomaru" as a good luck charm still continues, though in a limited fashion. The "Hinomaru Yosegaki" is shown at sporting events to give support to the Japanese national team. The Yosegaki (group effort flag, 寄せ書き) is used for campaigning soldiers, athletes, retirees, transfer students in a community and for friends. The colored paper and flag has writing with a message. In modern Japan, it is given as a present to a person at a send-off party, for athletes, a farewell party for colleagues or transfer students, for graduation and retirement. After natural disasters such as the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and tsunami people write notes on a Hinomaru Yosegaki to show support.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The is a white headband (bandana) with the red sun in the middle. Phrases are usually written on it. It is worn as a symbol of perseverance, effort, and/or courage by the wearer. These are worn on many occasions by for example sports spectators, women giving birth, students in cram school, office workers, tradesmen taking pride in their work etc. During World War II, the phrases or "Seven Lives" was written on the "hachimaki" and worn by kamikaze pilots. This denoted that the pilot was willing to die for his country.


title: Flag of Japan

text: A bentō and makunouchi are types of Japanese lunch boxes. It can have . It consists of gohan (steamed white rice) with a red umeboshi (dried ume) in the center which represents the sun and the flag of Japan. A only has white rice and a red umeboshi in the center. The salty, vinegar soaked umeboshi acts as a preservative for the rice. There are also hinomaru rice bowls which are less common.


title: Flag of Japan

text: There are multiple crustaceans with the hinomaru (circle of the sun) shape. Such as the (Astacidea), (Caridea) and the (Anomura). The Caridea Alpheus shrimp has an abdominal segment with a type of Japanese flag-shaped crest.


title: Flag of Japan

text: According to polls conducted by mainstream media, most Japanese people had perceived the flag of Japan as the national flag even before the passage of the "Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem" in 1999. Despite this, controversies surrounding the use of the flag in school events or media still remain. For example, liberal newspapers such as "Asahi Shimbun" and "Mainichi Shimbun" often feature articles critical of the flag of Japan, reflecting their readerships' political spectrum. To other Japanese, the flag represents the time where democracy was suppressed when Japan was an empire.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The display of the national flag at homes and businesses is also debated in Japanese society. Because of its association with uyoku dantai (right wing) activists, reactionary politics, or hooliganism, most homes and businesses do not fly the flag. There is no requirement to fly the flag on any national holiday or special events. The town of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, has proposed plans in September 2012 to use government funds to buy flags with the purpose of encouraging citizens to fly the flag on national holidays. The Japanese Communist Party is vocally against the flag.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Negative perceptions of the national flag exist in former colonies of Japan as well as within Japan itself, such as in Okinawa. In one notable example of this, on 26 October 1987, an Okinawan supermarket owner burned the flag before the start of the National Sports Festival of Japan. The flag burner, Shōichi Chibana, burned the "Hinomaru" not only to show opposition to atrocities committed by the Japanese army and the continued presence of U.S. forces but also to prevent it from being displayed in public. Other incidents in Okinawa included the flag being torn down during school ceremonies and students refusing to honor the flag as it was being raised to the sounds of "Kimigayo". In the capital city of Naha, Okinawa, the "Hinomaru" was raised for the first time since the return of Okinawa to Japan to celebrate the city's 80th anniversary in 2001. In the People's Republic of China and Republic of Korea, both of which had been occupied by the Empire of Japan, the 1999 formal adoption of the "Hinomaru" was met with reactions of Japan moving towards the right and also a step towards re-militarization. The passage of the 1999 law also coincided with the debates about the status of the Yasukuni Shrine, U.S.-Japan military cooperation, and the creation of a missile defense program. In other nations that Japan occupied, the 1999 law was met with mixed reactions or glossed over. In Singapore, the older generation still harbors ill feelings toward the flag while the younger generation does not hold similar views. The Philippine government not only believed that Japan was not going to revert to militarism, but the goal of the 1999 law was to formally establish two symbols (the flag and anthem) in law and every state has a right to create national symbols. Japan has no law criminalizing the burning of the "Hinomaru", but foreign flags cannot be burned in Japan.


title: Flag of Japan

text: According to protocol, the flag may fly from sunrise until sunset; businesses and schools are permitted to fly the flag from opening to closing. When flying the flags of Japan and another country at the same time in Japan, the Japanese flag takes the position of honor and the flag of the guest country flies to its right. Both flags must be at the same height and of equal size. When more than one foreign flag is displayed, Japan's flag is arranged in the alphabetical order prescribed by the United Nations. When the flag becomes unsuitable to use, it is customarily burned in private. The "Law Regarding the National Flag and Anthem" does not specify on how the flag should be used, but different prefectures came up with their own regulations to use the "Hinomaru" and other prefectural flags.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The "Hinomaru" flag has at least two mourning styles. One is to display the flag at , as is common in many countries. The offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also hoist the flag at half-staff when a funeral is performed for a foreign nation's head of state.


title: Flag of Japan

text: An alternative mourning style is to wrap the spherical finial with black cloth and place a black ribbon, known as a , above the flag. This style dates back to the death of Emperor Meiji on 30 July 1912, and the Cabinet issued an ordinance stipulating that the national flag should be raised in mourning when the Emperor dies. The Cabinet has the authority to announce the half-staffing of the national flag.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Since the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education has issued statements and regulations to promote the usage of both the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo" (national anthem) at schools under their jurisdiction. The first of these statements was released in 1950, stating that it was desirable, but not required, to use both symbols. This desire was later expanded to include both symbols on national holidays and during ceremonial events to encourage students on what national holidays are and to promote defense education. In a 1989 reform of the education guidelines, the LDP-controlled government first demanded that the flag must be used in school ceremonies and that proper respect must be given to it and to "Kimigayo". Punishments for school officials who did not follow this order were also enacted with the 1989 reforms.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The 1999 curriculum guideline issued by the Ministry of Education after the passage of the "Law Regarding the National Flag and Anthem" decrees that "on entrance and graduation ceremonies, schools must raise the flag of Japan and instruct students to sing the "Kimigayo", given the significance of the flag and the song." Additionally, the ministry's commentary on the 1999 curriculum guideline for elementary schools note that "given the advance of internationalization, along with fostering patriotism and awareness of being Japanese, it is important to nurture school children's respectful attitude toward the flag of Japan and "Kimigayo" as they grow up to be respected Japanese citizens in an internationalized society." The ministry also stated that if Japanese students cannot respect their own symbols, then they will not be able to respect the symbols of other nations.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Schools have been the center of controversy over both the anthem and the national flag. The Tokyo Board of Education requires the use of both the anthem and flag at events under their jurisdiction. The order requires school teachers to respect both symbols or risk losing their jobs. Some have protested that such rules violate the Constitution of Japan, but the Board has argued that since schools are government agencies, their employees have an obligation to teach their students how to be good Japanese citizens. As a sign of protest, schools refused to display the "Hinomaru" at school graduations and some parents ripped down the flag. Teachers have unsuccessfully brought criminal complaints against Tokyo Governor Shintarō Ishihara and senior officials for ordering teachers to honor the "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo". After earlier opposition, the Japan Teachers Union accepts the use of both the flag and anthem; the smaller All Japan Teachers and Staffs Union still opposes both symbols and their use inside the school system.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force use the Rising Sun Flag with eight red rays extending outward, called . A gold border is situated partially around the edge.


title: Flag of Japan

text: A well-known variant of the sun disc design is the sun disc with 16 red rays in a Siemens star formation, which was also historically used by Japan's military, particularly the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ensign, known in Japanese as the , was first adopted as the war flag on 15 May 1870, and was used until the end of World War II in 1945. It was re-adopted on 30 June 1954, and is now used as the war flag and naval ensign of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). JSDF Chief of Staff Katsutoshi Kawano said the Rising Sun Flag is the Maritime Self-Defense Force sailors' "pride". Due to its continued use by the Imperial Japanese Army, this flag carries the negative connotation similar to the Nazi flag in China and Korea. These formerly colonised countries state that this flag is a symbol of Japanese imperialism during World War II, and is an ongoing conflict event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The JMSDF also employs the use of a masthead pennant. First adopted in 1914 and readopted in 1965, the masthead pennant contains a simplified version of the naval ensign at the hoist end, with the rest of the pennant colored white. The ratio of the pennant is between 1:40 and 1:90.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), established independently in 1952, has only the plain sun disc as its emblem. This is the only branch of service with an emblem that does not invoke the rayed Imperial Standard. However, the branch does have an ensign to fly on bases and during parades. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force flag was first adopted in 1955 after the JASDF was created in 1954. The flag is cobalt blue with a gold winged eagle on top of a combined star, the moon, the Hinomaru sun disc and clouds. The latest version of the JASDF flag was re-adopted on 19 March 2001.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Although not an official national flag, the Z signal flag played a major role in Japanese naval history. On 27 May 1905, Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō of the "Mikasa" was preparing to engage the Russian Baltic Fleet. Before the Battle of Tsushima began, Togo raised the Z flag on the "Mikasa" and engaged the Russian fleet, winning the battle for Japan. The raising of the flag said to the crew the following: "The fate of Imperial Japan hangs on this one battle; all hands will exert themselves and do their best." The Z flag was also raised on the aircraft carrier "Akagi" on the eve of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Starting in 1870, flags were created for the Japanese Emperor (then Emperor Meiji), the Empress, and other members of the imperial family. At first, the Emperor's flag was ornate, with a sun resting in the center of an artistic pattern. He had flags that were used on land, at sea, and when he was in a carriage. The imperial family was also granted flags to be used at sea and while on land (one for use on foot and one carriage flag). The carriage flags were a monocolored chrysanthemum, with 16 petals, placed in the center of a monocolored background. These flags were discarded in 1889 when the Emperor decided to use the chrysanthemum on a red background as his flag. With minor changes in the color shades and proportions, the flags adopted in 1889 are still in use by the imperial family.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The current Emperor's flag is a 16-petal chrysanthemum (called Kikkamon, Japanese:菊花紋), colored in gold, centered on a red background with a 2:3 ratio. The Empress uses the same flag, except the shape is that of a swallow tail. The crown prince and the crown princess use the same flags, except with a smaller chrysanthemum and a white border in the middle of the flags. The chrysanthemum has been associated with the Imperial throne since the rule of Emperor Go-Toba in the 12th century, but it did not become the exclusive symbol of the Imperial throne until 1868.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Each of the 47 prefectures of Japan has its own flag which, like the national flag, consists of a symbol – called a "mon" – charged upon a monocolored field (except for Ehime Prefecture, where the background is bicolored). There are several prefecture flags, such as Hiroshima's, that match their specifications to the national flag (2:3 ratio, "mon" placed in the center and is the length of the flag). Some of the "mon" display the name of the prefecture in Japanese characters; others are stylized depictions of the location or another special feature of the prefecture. An example of a prefectural flag is that of Nagano, where the orange "katakana" character ナ ("na") appears in the center of a white disc. One interpretation of the "mon" is that the "na" symbol represents a mountain and the white disc, a lake. The orange color represents the sun while the white color represents the snow of the region.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Municipalities can also adopt flags of their own. The designs of the city flags are similar to the prefectural flags: a "mon" on a monocolored background. An example is the flag of Amakusa in Kumamoto Prefecture: the city symbol is composed of the Katakana character ア ("a") and surrounded by waves. This symbol is centered on a white flag, with a ratio of 2:3. Both the city emblem and the flag were adopted in 2006.


title: Flag of Japan

text: In addition to the flags used by the military, several other flag designs were inspired by the national flag. The former Japan Post flag consisted of the "Hinomaru" with a red horizontal bar placed in the center of the flag. There was also a thin white ring around the red sun. It was later replaced by a flag that consisted of the 〒 postal mark in red on a white background.


title: Flag of Japan

text: Two recently designed national flags resemble the Japanese flag. In 1971, Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan, and it adopted a national flag that had a green background, charged with an off-centered red disc that contained a golden map of Bangladesh. The current flag, adopted in 1972, dropped the golden map and kept everything else. The Government of Bangladesh officially calls the red disc a circle; the red color symbolizes the blood that was shed to create their country. The island nation of Palau uses a flag of similar design, but the color scheme is completely different. While the Government of Palau does not cite the Japanese flag as an influence on their national flag, Japan did administer Palau from 1914 until 1944. The flag of Palau is an off-centered golden-yellow full moon on a sky blue background. The moon stands for peace and a young nation while the blue background represents Palau's transition to self-government from 1981 to 1994, when it achieved full independence.


title: Flag of Japan

text: The Japanese naval ensign also influenced other flag designs. One such flag design is used by the "Asahi Shimbun". At the bottom hoist of the flag, one quarter of the sun is displayed. The kanji character 朝 is displayed on the flag, colored white, covering most of the sun. The rays extend from the sun, occurring in a red and white alternating order, culminating in 13 total stripes. The flag is commonly seen at the National High School Baseball Championship, as the "Asahi Shimbun" is a main sponsor of the tournament. The rank flags and ensigns of the Imperial Japanese Navy also based their designs on the naval ensign.


title: Doxing

text: Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this information from public databases and social media websites (like Facebook), as well as the publication of previously private information obtained through criminal or otherwise fraudulent means (such as hacking and social engineering). The aggregation and provision of previously published material is generally a legal practice, though it may be subject to laws concerning stalking and intimidation. Doxing may be carried out for reasons such as online shaming, extortion, and vigilante aid to law enforcement. It also may be associated with "hacktivism".


title: Doxing

text: "Doxing" is a neologism. It originates from a spelling alteration of the abbreviation "docs", for "documents", and refers to "compiling and releasing a dossier of personal information on someone". Essentially, doxing is revealing and publicizing the records of an individual, which were previously private or difficult to obtain.


title: Doxing

text: The term dox derives from the slang "dropping dox", which, according to a contributor to "Wired", Mat Honan, was "an old-school revenge tactic that emerged from hacker culture in 1990s". Hackers operating outside the law in that era used the breach of an opponent's anonymity as a means to expose opponents to harassment or legal repercussions.


title: Doxing

text: Consequently, doxing often comes with a negative connotation because it can be a means of revenge via the violation of privacy.


title: Doxing

text: Outside of hacker communities, the first prominent examples of doxing took place on internet discussion forums on Usenet in the late 1990s, including users circulating lists of suspected neo-Nazis. One of the first documented doxing events was the publication of a "Blacklist of Net.Nazis and Sandlot Bullies" which listed names, email addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses of individuals the author objected to. Also in the late 1990s, a website called the Nuremberg Files launched, featuring the home addresses of abortion providers and language that implied website visitors should stalk and kill the people listed.


title: Doxing

text: In 2012, when then-"Gawker" reporter Adrian Chen revealed the identity of Reddit troll Violentacrez as Michael Brutsch, Reddit users accused Chen of doxing Brutsch and declared "war" on "Gawker". In the mid-2010s, the events of the Gamergate harassment campaign brought the term into wider public use. Participants in Gamergate became known for releasing sensitive information about their targets to the public, sometimes with the intent of causing the targets in question physical harm. Caroline Sinders, a research fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said that "Gamergate, for a lot of people, for mainstream culture, was the introduction to what doxxing is".


title: Doxing

text: According to "The Atlantic", from 2014 to 2020, "the doxxing conversation was dominated by debate around whether unmasking a pseudonymous person with a sizable following was an unnecessary and dangerous invasion of their privacy." In 2014, when "Newsweek" attempted to search for the pseudonymous developer of Bitcoin, the magazine was accused of doxing by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. In 2016, when an Italian journalist attempted to search for the identity of the pseudonymous Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, the journalist was accused of gendered harassment and "Vox" referred to the search as "the doxxing of Elena Ferrante." In 2020, when "The New York Times" indicated that it was planning on publishing the real name of the California psychiatrist running the "Slate Star Codex" blog, fans of the blog accused the "Times" of doxing. The person behind the blog accused the "Times" of threatening his safety and claimed that he started a "major scandal" that resulted in the "Times" losing hundreds or thousands of subscriptions.


title: Doxing

text: In 2022, "BuzzFeed News" reporter Katie Notopoulos used public business records to identify the previously pseudonymous founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Greg Solano, one of the founders of the club, claimed that he "Got doxxed against my will".


title: Doxing

text: On April 19, 2022, "The Washington Post" reporter Taylor Lorenz revealed the identity of the person behind the Twitter account Libs of TikTok as Chaya Raichik, who works in real estate. This resulted in Raichik and right-wingers accusing Lorenz of doxing.


title: Doxing

text: Doxware is a cryptovirology attack invented by Adam Young and further developed with Moti Yung that carries out doxing extortion via malware. It was first presented at West Point in 2003. The attack is rooted in game theory and was originally dubbed "non-zero-sum games and survivable malware".


title: Doxing

text: The attack differs from the extortion attack in the following way. In the extortion attack, the victim is denied access to its own valuable information and has to pay to get it back, where in the attack that is presented here the victim retains access to the information but its disclosure is at the discretion of the computer virus.


title: Doxing

text: Doxware is the converse of ransomware. In a ransomware attack (originally called cryptoviral extortion), the malware encrypts the victim's data and demands payment to provide the needed decryption key. In the doxware cryptovirology attack, the attacker or malware steals the victim's data and threatens to publish it unless a fee is paid.


title: Doxing

text: Once people have been exposed through doxing, they may be targeted for harassment through methods such as harassment in person, fake signups for mail and pizza deliveries, or through swatting (dispatching armed police to their house through spoofed tips).


title: Doxing

text: A hacker may obtain an individual's dox without making the information public. A hacker may look for this information to extort or coerce a known or unknown target. A hacker may also harvest a victim's information to break into their Internet accounts or take over their social media accounts.


title: Doxing

text: Doxing has also occurred in dating apps. In a survey conducted in 2021, 16% of respondents reported suffering doxing because of them. In a 2018 qualitative studio about intimate partner violence, 28 out of 89 participants (both professionals and survivors) reported the exposure of the victim's private information to third parties through digital technologies as a form of humiliation, shaming or harm frequently practiced by abusers, that may include the disclosure of intimate images and impersonation of the victim.


title: Doxing

text: Victims may also be shown their details as proof that they have been doxed as a form of intimidation. The perpetrator may use this fear to gain power over victims in order to extort or coerce. Doxing is therefore a standard tactic of online harassment and has been used by people associated with the Gamergate and vaccine controversies.


title: Doxing

text: In the United States, in the 1970s and 80s (paper) and the 1990s (digitally), anti-abortion activists secured abortion providers' personal information, such as home addresses, phone numbers, and photographs, and posted them as a hit list. The courts later ruled this to be an immediate incitement to violence. Between 1993 and 2016, eight abortion providers were killed by anti-abortion activists, along with at least four police officers.


title: Doxing

text: Starting in March 2006, the Chinese Internet phenomenon of the "Human flesh search engine"（人肉搜索）shares much in common with doxing. Specifically, it refers to distributed, sometimes deliberately crowdsourced searches for similar kinds of information through use of digital media.


title: Doxing

text: The term "dox" entered mainstream public awareness through media attention attracted by Anonymous, the Internet-based group of hacktivists and pranksters who make frequent use of doxing, as well as related groups like AntiSec and LulzSec. "The Washington Post" has described the consequences for innocent people incorrectly accused of wrongdoing and doxed as "nightmarish".


title: Doxing

text: In December 2011, Anonymous exposed detailed information of 7,000 law enforcement members in response to investigations into hacking activities.


title: Doxing

text: In November 2014, Anonymous began releasing the identities of members of the Ku Klux Klan. This was concerning local Klan members in Ferguson, Missouri, making threats to shoot those protesting the shooting of Michael Brown. Anonymous also hijacked the group's Twitter page, causing Klan members to make veiled threats of violence against members of Anonymous. In November 2015, a major release of information about the KKK was planned. Discredited information was released prematurely, and Anonymous denied involvement. On 5 November 2015 (Guy Fawkes Night), Anonymous released an official list of supposed, but currently unverified, KKK members and sympathizers.


title: Doxing

text: Following the 15 April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, internet vigilantes on Reddit wrongly identified a number of people as suspects. Notable among misidentified bombing suspects was Sunil Tripathi, a student reported missing before the bombings took place. A body reported to be Tripathi's was found in Rhode Island's Providence River on 25 April 2013, as reported by the Rhode Island Health Department. The cause of death was not immediately known, but authorities said they did not suspect foul play. The family later confirmed Tripathi's death was a result of suicide. Reddit general manager Erik Martin later issued an apology for this behavior, criticizing the "online witch hunts and dangerous speculation" that took place on the website.


title: Doxing

text: Journalists with "The Journal News" of Westchester County, New York were accused of doxing gun owners in the region in a story the paper published in December 2012.


title: Doxing

text: "Newsweek" was criticized when writer Leah McGrath Goodman claimed to have revealed the identity of the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Although she primarily drew on the public record, users on Reddit responded negatively.


title: Doxing

text: The Satoshi Nakamoto case brought doxing to greater attention on platforms such as Twitter, where users questioned the ethics of doxing in journalism. Many Twitter users argued that the practice was seemingly acceptable for professional journalists but wrong for anyone else. Other users discussed the effect the popularization that the concept of doxing could have on journalism in the public interest, raising questions over journalism concerning public and private figures in which journalists practicing doxing may blur the line between reporting information in the public's interest and releasing information about the private life of an individual without their consent.


title: Doxing

text: In September 2019, "The Des Moines Register" published racist tweets made by a 24-year-old Iowa man whose beer sign on "ESPN College GameDay" resulted in over $1 million in contributions to a children's hospital. Readers retaliated by sharing social media comments previously made by the reporter, Aaron Calvin, which contained racial slurs and condemnation of law enforcement. The newspaper later announced they no longer employed Calvin.


title: Doxing

text: In March 2015, former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Curt Schilling used doxing to identify several people responsible for "Twitter troll" posts with obscene, sexually explicit comments about his teenage daughter. One person was suspended from his community college, and another lost a part-time job with the New York Yankees.


title: Doxing

text: In December 2015, Minneapolis city council member Alondra Cano used her Twitter account to publish private cellphone numbers and e-mail addresses of critics who wrote about her involvement in a Black Lives Matter rally.


title: Doxing

text: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a US federal law that requires the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge. Embedded in that act, that is designed to protect the privacy of the patient, is ironically a provision that requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to publish the names of Americans who renounce or relinquish their US citizenship. The IRS will publish a Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G, 81 Fed. Reg. 50058. The expatriation provisions were included as “revenue offsets... to avoid increasing the budget deficit.” The expressed intent originated in The Expatriation Tax Act of 1995 by Bill Archer to publicly shame the expatriating individuals.


title: Doxing

text: In 2016, Fox Business news anchor Lou Dobbs revealed the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, one of the women who accused American presidential candidate Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual advances; Dobbs later apologized.


title: Doxing

text: In July 2016, WikiLeaks released 300,000 e-mails called the Erdoğan emails, initially thought to be damaging to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Included in the leak was Michael Best, who uploaded Turkish citizens' information databases that WikiLeaks promoted, who came forward to say that doing so was a mistake after the site where he uploaded the information took it down. The files were removed due to privacy concerns. They included spreadsheets of private, sensitive information of what appears to be every female voter in 79 out of 81 provinces in Turkey, including their home addresses and other private information, sometimes including their cellphone numbers.


title: Doxing

text: In November 2016, Politico editor Michael Hirsh resigned after publishing the home address of white nationalist Richard B. Spencer on Facebook.


title: Doxing

text: In July 2017, the United States' Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was established in May 2017 by U.S. President Donald Trump to investigate his controversial allegation of voter fraud, published a 112-page document of unredacted emails of public comment on its work, which included both critics and supporters of the Commission. The Commission included the personal details of those critics, such as names, emails, phone numbers and home addresses. Most of the commenters who wrote to the White House expressed concern about publication of their personal information, with one person writing, "DO NOT RELEASE ANY OF MY VOTER DATA PERIOD." Despite this, that person's name and email address were published by the commission.


title: Doxing

text: This act drew criticism from Theresa Lee, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, who stated, "This cavalier attitude toward the public's personal information is especially concerning given the commission's request for sensitive data on every registered voter in the country." The White House defended the personal information publication, noting that everyone was warned that might happen. However, former Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu stated that regardless of the legality, the White House has a moral obligation to protect sensitive data, saying, "Whether or not it's legal to disclose this personal information, it's clearly improper, and no responsible White House would do this."


title: Doxing

text: Federal agencies often solicit and release public comments on proposed legislation. Regulations.gov, which is designated for public comments, includes a detailed set of guidelines explaining how to submit comments, what type of personal information is collected, and how that information may be used, stating, "Some agencies may require that you include personal information, such as your name and email address, on the comment form. The Securities and Exchange Commission, for instance, warns commenters to 'submit only information that you wish to make available publicly.'" Another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, tells commenters that "published comments include the commenter's last name and state/country as well as the entire text of the comment. Please do not include any sensitive or confidential information." However, The White House does not appear to have issued any such public guidelines or warnings before many of the emails were sent. Marc Lotter, Press Secretary to Mike Pence, stated, "These are public comments, similar to individuals appearing before commission to make comments and providing name before making comments. The Commission’s Federal Register notice asking for public comments and its website make clear that information 'including names and contact information' sent to this email address may be released."


title: Doxing

text: On 3 October 2018, Jackson Cosko, a House fellow for the Democratic Party, was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP). He allegedly posted private, identifying information of several Senators to Wikipedia. According to the USCP, the personal information of Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch was anonymously posted to Wikipedia the week before on Thursday 27 September 2018. The information included home addresses and phone numbers. All three lawmakers are with the Senate Judiciary Committee. The alleged doxing occurred during the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Cosko was initially charged with witness tampering, threats in interstate communications, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, second degree burglary and unlawful entry. Cosko was fired after his arrest. He worked with Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif). Conviction of all six charges might have resulted in Cosko facing up to 20 years in prison. However, in June 2019, he was sentenced by Judge Thomas F. Hogan to four years in prison. An accomplice, Samantha DeForest Davis, was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and community service.


title: Doxing

text: Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, an Austrian doctor, received targeted harassment, including death threats, first online, then in person, by anti-vaccination and conspiracy theorist groups during the COVID-19 epidemic until she took her life in July 2022. The harassment she received included attacks against the clinic in Seewalchen am Attersee where she worked, and that she had to close weeks before her death due to security costs.


title: Doxing

text: On August 5, 2022, Canadian Twitch streamer and transgender activist Clara Sorrenti was swatted after an e-mail impersonating her claiming intent to harm city councillors of London, Ontario. After this incident, she moved to a hotel. Her new location was posted in Kiwi Farms, a forum frequently related to harassment campaigns that included a thread disclosing personal data from her, her family members and her friends, as well as sexually explicit content, which was started in March 21 of the same year, after what she started to receive prank pizza orders by trolls who used her former name, changed more than a decade before. At the time, police was also investigating a second doxing attempt. Sorrenti's Uber account was hacked days after the hotel location incident, leading to her receiving new prank orders. After that, she reported having been doxed again and her will to leave Canada, given the targeted harassment she was receiving. Days later, her new location in Belfast, Northern Ireland was posted online and a new swatting attempt was made. Sorrenti campaigned for online security firm Cloudflare to terminate services for Kiwifarms, citing life-threatening harassment originating in the site. On September 3, 2022, the firm blocked access to Kiwifarms through its infrastructure, mentioning "an imminent and emergency threat to human life".


title: Doxing

text: In December 2022 business magnate and investor Elon Musk, who was also CEO of Twitter, Inc., suspended the Twitter accounts of several journalists, whom he accused of doxing the location of his private jet, related to the social media account ElonJet. Two days later the accounts were restored.


title: Doxing

text: There are currently few legal remedies for the victims of doxing. In the United States, there are currently two federal laws that could potentially address the problem of doxing: the Interstate Communications Statute and the Interstate Stalking Statute. However, as one scholar has argued, "[t]hese statutes...are woefully inadequate to prevent doxing because their terms are underinclusive and they are rarely enforced". The Interstate Communications Statute, for example, "only criminalizes explicit threats to kidnap or injure a person". But in many instances of doxing, a doxer may never convey an explicit threat to kidnap or injure, but the victim could still have good reason to be terrified. And the Interstate Stalking Statute "is rarely enforced and it serves only as a hollow protection from online harassment". According to at least one estimate, over three million people are stalked over the internet each year, yet only about three are charged under the Interstate Stalking Statute. Accordingly, "[t]his lack of federal enforcement means that the States must step in if doxing is to be reduced".


title: Doxing

text: Parallel to the rise of doxing has been the evolution of cybersecurity, internet privacy, the Online Privacy Alliance, and even companies that provide anti-doxing services. Most recently, high profile groups like the University of California Berkeley have made online guidance for protecting its community members from doxing. "Wired" published an article on dealing with doxing, in which Eva Galperin, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, advises people to "Google yourself, lock yourself down, make it harder to access information about you."


title: Doxing

text: From March 1, 2020, the People’s Republic of China’s "Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Online Information Content" has been implemented, clarifying that users and producers of online information content services and platforms must not engage in online violence, doxing, deep forgery, data fraud, account manipulation and other illegal activities.


title: Doxing

text: As of 2021, it is a criminal offense in Hong Kong to dox, where doxing is defined as releasing private or non-public information on a person for the purposes of "threatening, intimidation, harassment or to cause psychological harm". Persons convicted under this statute are liable to imprisonment for up to 5 years, and a fine of HK$1,000,000 (US$128,324.40).


title: Doxing

text: South Korea stands as one of few countries with a criminal statute that specifically addresses doxing. Article 49 of "Act on promotion of information and communications network utilization, and information protection" prohibits unlawful collection and dissemination of private information such as full name, birth date, address, likeliness, and any other information that is deemed sufficient to identify specific person(s) when viewed in summation, regardless of intent. In practice, however, due to the ambiguous nature of “unlawful collection” of private information in said statute, legal actions are often based upon article 44 from the same act, which prohibits insulting an individual with language derogatory or profane, and defamation of an individual through the dissemination of either misinformation or privileged factual information that may potentially damage an individual's reputation or honor (which often occurs in a doxing incident). It is important to note that this particular clause enforces harsher maximum sentences than a “traditional” defamation statute existing in the Korean criminal code and was originally enacted partially in response to the rise in celebrity suicides due to cyberbullying.


title: Doxing

text: The Spanish Criminal Code regulates penalties for the discovery and revelation of secrets in articles 197 to 201. It establishes, in its article 197 § 1, that "whoever, in order to discover the secrets or violate the privacy of another, without their consent, seizes their papers, letters, e-mail messages or any other documents or personal effects, intercepts their telecommunications or uses technical devices for listening, transmission, recording or reproduction of sound or image, or any other communication signal, shall be punished with prison sentences of one to four years and a fine of twelve to twenty-four months". Per article 197 § 2, the same penalty punishes those who "seize, use or modify, to the detriment of a third party, reserved personal or family data of another that is registered in computer, electronic or telematic files or media, or in any other type of file or public or private record". Those who "disseminate, disclose or transfer" the aforementioned data to third parties face a penalty of two to five prison years (one to three years of prison and fines of twelve to twenty-four months, if not directly involved in their discovery but "with knowledge of its illicit origin") per article 197 § 3. These offenses are particularly severe if made by the person responsible of the respective files, media, records or archives or through unauthorized use of personal data, if revealing of the ideology, religion, beliefs, health, racial origin or sexual life of the victim, if the victim is underage or disabled, and if it is made for economic profit.


title: Doxing

text: As established by the Criminal Code's reform in 2015, to "disseminate, disclose or transfer to third parties images or audiovisual recordings of the one obtained with their consent in a home or in any other place out of sight of third parties, when the disclosure seriously undermines the personal privacy of that person", without the authorization of the affected person, is also punished per article 197 § 7 to three months to a year in prison and fines of six to twelve moths. The offense is particularly severe if the victim is linked to the offender by marriage or an "analogous affective relationship", underage, or disabled.


title: Doxing

text: In 2021, due to increasing doxing incidents targeting Dutch activists, politicians, journalists and others, a new law against doxing was proposed by then Minister of Justice and Security Ferdinand Grapperhaus. The law is aimed at curtailing those who share private information with the intent of intimidation, and carries a maximum penalty of a one-year prison sentence.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Regina Cassandra (born 13 December 1990) is an Indian actress and Model who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She made her acting debut with the Tamil film "Kanda Naal Mudhal" in 2005 and made her Telugu film debut with "Siva Manasulo Sruthi" (2012), for which she won the SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut (Telugu). She then made her Kannada debut with "Suryakaanti" (2010) and Hindi debut with "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga" (2019).


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Cassandra played the lead in various successful films including "Siva Manasulo Sruthi", "Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga", "Kotha Janta", "Power", "Rajathandhiram", "Subramanyam for Sale", "Awe", "Silukkuvarupatti Singam", "7" and "Mughizh". She received praises for her role in "Jyo Achyutananda" and "Evaru".


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Cassandra made her web debut with the 2022 series "Rocket Boys" portraying classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Regina Cassandra was born on 13 December 1990 in Madras (now Chennai), India. Her mother tongue is Tamil.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Cassandra started anchoring when she was nine for Splash, a kids' channel, and then moved on to work in commercials.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Her first feature film appearance was the Tamil film "Kanda Naal Mudhal" (2005). She later played the lead in the Kannada film "Suryakaanti" (2010) by director K. M. Chaitanya of "Aa Dinagalu" fame. The film featured her alongside actor Chetan, and as she could not speak Kannada, she was told to act out scenes in English and add Kannada to it. The film won good reviews and performed moderately at the box office. However, the film's low-key release meant that the film failed to gain attention, so she took time out from films and then went on to graduate in psychology from Women's Christian College, Chennai and took another year off before taking a final call on joining movies.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: During her break, Cassandra also acted in several short films, including Balaji Mohan's "Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi" alongside Adith Arun, which was later made into a feature film in 2012 under the same name. In 2010, it was announced that she would feature in the Tamil film "Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey" alongside Adith Arun, but the film was eventually delayed and then restarted with a fresh cast.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: In 2012, Cassandra appeared in "Shiva Manasulo Shruti" by Tatineni Sathya, which was a remake of the 2009 Tamil film "Siva Manasula Sakthi". She was next seen in the Telugu romantic-comedy, "Routine Love Story", alongside Sundeep Kishan, which she signed even before her first release in Telugu.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: In 2013 she had two Tamil releases, "Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga" by Pandiraj, in which she was one of the two lead actresses, and "Nirnayam" in which she played a vital role. Although the former proved successful at the box office, she did not sign more films in Tamil and instead shifted her focus to Telugu films. "Kotha Janta" directed by Maruthi was Cassandra's first 2014 release. She received positive response for her performance in the film. Deccan Chronicle wrote, "The star of the film is undoubtedly Regina Cassandra. She looks cute and bubbly and delivers a delightful performance. She has done her character with ease and with the right expressions". Her next releases were "Ra Ra... Krishnayya", which saw her reuniting with Sundeep Kishan, and "Power" in which she played a Bengali girl, the film was a commercial success. She played the lead role opposite Sai Dharam Tej in "Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam" directed by AS Ravi Kumar Chowdary.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Seen after two years in Tamil cinema in "Rajathandhiram" (2015), her acting was praised. Cassandra's next was the successful "Subramanyam for Sale" and "Soukhyam". In 2016, she appeared in the action thriller "Shankara" (2016), which is remake of the Tamil hit "Mouna Guru" and also the source for the Hindi film "Akira", starring "Sonakshi Sinha". She also appeared in the commercially successful film "Jyo Achyutananda", receiving critical acclaim for her role.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: In 2017, her Tamil films were "Maanagaram", "Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen" and "Gemini Ganeshanum Suruli Raajanum". Cassandra In 2018, she appeared in the critical acclaimed "Awe" and is also part of films like "Mr. Chandramouli" and "Silukkuvarupatti Singam" in 2018. The latter was a critical and commercial success.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Cassandra's Bollywood debut "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga" (2019) had her playing an unconventional role. She states that cinema in general is evolving, and Tamil industry picked up faster in doing unconventional films. In 2019, she received critical acclaim for her role in Evaru. She played a negative character for the first time in "7".


title: Regina Cassandra

text: In 2021, she again played a negative role in "Chakra" and went onto star in "Nenjam Marappathillai", "Kasada Thapara" and the critical success "Mughizh" all in leading roles. She did a cameo in Thalaivii playing B. Saroja Devi.


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Her first release in 2022 is the long-delayed "1945". Cassandra made her web debut with the Sony LIV's series "Rocket Boys" where she portrays Mrinalini Sarabhai. It received positive reviews from critics. She then had a special number in Chiranjeevi's "Acharya".


title: Regina Cassandra

text: Cassandra's upcoming movies include Telugu Tamil bilingual "Soorpanagai", Telugu films "Saakini Daakini" and "Karungaapiyam". She also has Tamil films "Borrder", "Party" and "Kallapart" in her kitty. She will appear alongside Vijay Sethupathi in the series "Farzi".


title: Kabul

text: Kabul (; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. According to late 2022 estimates, the population of Kabul was 13.5 million people. In contemporary times, the city has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural, and economical centre, and rapid urbanisation has made Kabul the 75th-largest city in the world and the country's primate city.


title: Kabul

text: The modern-day city of Kabul is located high up in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush, and is bounded by the Kabul River. At an elevation of , it is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Located at a crossroads in Asia—roughly halfway between Istanbul, Turkey, in the west and Hanoi, Vietnam, in the east—it is situated in a strategic location along the trade routes of Central Asia and South Asia, and was a key destination on the ancient Silk Road; It was traditionally seen as the meeting point between Tartary, India, and Persia. Kabul has also been under the rule of various other dynasties and empires, including the Seleucids, the Kushans, the Hindu Shahis, Western Turks, the Turk Shahis, the Samanids, the Khwarazmians, the Timurids, and the Mongols, among others. In the 16th century, the Mughal Empire used Kabul as an initial summer capital, during which time it increasingly prospered and increased in significance. It briefly came under the control of the Afsharids following Nader Shah's invasion of India, until finally becoming coming under local rule by the Afghan Empire in 1747; Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan in 1776, during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani (a son of Ahmad Shah Durrani). In the 19th century, the city was occupied by the British, but after establishing foreign relations and agreements, they were compelled to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan and returned to British India.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul is known for its historical gardens, bazaars, and palaces; well-known examples are the Gardens of Babur and Darul Aman Palace, as well as the Arg. In the second half of the 20th century, it became a stop on the hippie trail undertaken by many Europeans, and the city also gained the nickname "Paris of Central Asia" during this time. However, this period of tranquility ended in 1978 with the Saur Revolution and subsequent Soviet military intervention in 1979, which sparked the protracted Soviet–Afghan War until 1989. The 1990s were marked by continuous civil wars between various splinter factions of the disbanded Afghan mujahideen, which destroyed much of the city. In 1996, Kabul was captured by the Taliban after four years of intermittent fighting with other Afghan factions. However, the Taliban-ruled city soon fell to the United States after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. In 2021, Kabul was re-captured by the Taliban following the withdrawal of American-led military forces from Afghanistan.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul was known by different names throughout history. Its meaning is unknown, but "certainly pre-dates the advent of Islam when it was an important centre on the route between India and the Hellenic world". In Sanskrit, it was known as "Kubha", whereas Greek authors of classical antiquity referred to it as "Kophen", "Kophes" or "Koa". The Chinese traveler Xuanzang (fl. 7th century CE) recorded the city as "Kaofu"（高附）. The name "Kabul" was first applied to the Kabul river before being applied to the area situated between the Hindu Kush and Sindh (present-day Pakistan). This area was also known as Kabulistan. Alexander Cunningham (died 1893) noted in the 19th century that "Kaofu" as recorded by the Chinese was in all likelihood the name of "one of the five Yuchi or Tukhari tribes". Cunningam added that this tribe gave its name to the city after it was occupied by them in the 2nd century BCE. This "supposition seems likely" as the Afghan historian Mir Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar (1898–1978) wrote that in the Avesta (sacred book of Zoroastrianism), Kabul was known as "Vaekereta", whereas the Greeks of antiquity referred to it as "Ortospana" ("High Place"), which corresponds to the Sanskrit word "Urddhastana", which was applied to Kabul. The Greek geographer Ptolemy (died CE) recorded Kabul as "Καβουρα" ("Kabura").


title: Kabul

text: According to a legend, one could find a lake in Kabul, in the middle of which the so-called "Island of Happiness" could be found, where a joyous family of musicians lived. According to this same legend, the island became accessible by the order of a king through the construction of a bridge (i.e. "pul" in Persian) made out of straw (i.e. "kah" in Persian). According to this legend the name Kabul was thus formed as a result of these two words combined, i.e. "kah" + "pul". The "Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names" argues that the "suggestion that the name is derived from the Arabic root "qbl" ‘meeting’ or ‘receiving’ is unlikely".


title: Kabul

text: It remains unknown when the name "Kabul" was first applied to the city. However, it "came into prominence" following the destruction of Kapisa and other cities in what is present-day Afghanistan by Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) in the thirteenth century. Due to the centrality of the city within the region, as well as its cultural importance as a nexus of ethnic groups in the region, Kabul became known as the Paris of Central Asia in the late 20th century.


title: Kabul

text: The origin of Kabul, who built it and when, is largely unknown. The Hindu Rigveda, composed between 2000 and 1500 BC and one of the four canonical texts of Hinduism, and the Avesta, the primary canon of texts of Zoroastrianism, refer to the Kabul River and to a settlement called "Kubha".


title: Kabul

text: The Kabul valley was part of the Median Empire (c. 678–549 BC). In 549 BC, the Median Empire was annexed by Cyrus The Great and Kabul became part the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). During that period, Kabul became a center of learning for Zoroastrianism, followed by Buddhism and Hinduism. An inscription on Darius the Great's tombstone lists Kabul as one of the 29 countries of the Achaemenid Empire.


title: Kabul

text: When Alexander annexed the Achaemenid Empire, the Kabul region came under his control. After his death, his empire was seized by his general Seleucus, becoming part of the Seleucid Empire. In 305 BCE, the Seleucid Empire was extended to the Indus River which led to friction with the neighbouring Mauryan Empire, but it is widely believed that the two empires reached an alliance treaty.


title: Kabul

text: During the Mauryan period, trade flourished because of uniform weights and measures. Irrigation facilities for public use were developed leading to an increased harvest of crops. People were also employed as artisans, jewellers, and carpenters.


title: Kabul

text: The Greco-Bactrians took control of Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, then lost the city to their subordinates in the Indo-Greek Kingdom around the mid-2nd century BC. Buddhism was greatly patronised by the rulers and the majority of people of the city were adherents of the religion. Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later.


title: Kabul

text: It is mentioned as "Kophes" or "Kophene" in some classical writings. Hsuan Tsang refers to the city as "Kaofu" in the 7th century AD, which is the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had migrated from across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley around the beginning of the Christian era. It was conquered by Kushan Emperor Kujula Kadphises in about 45 AD and remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century AD. The Kushans were Indo-European-speaking peoples based in Bactria (northern Afghanistan).


title: Kabul

text: Around 230 AD, the Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Empire and replaced by Sassanid vassals known as the Indo-Sassanids. During the Sassanian period, the city was referred to as "Kapul" in Pahlavi scripts. Kapol in the Persian language means Royal (ka) Bridge (pol), which is due to the main bridge on the Kabul River that connected the east and west of the city. In 420 AD, the Indo-Sassanids were driven out of Afghanistan by the Xionite tribe known as the Kidarites, who were then replaced in the 460s by the Hephthalites. It became part of the surviving Turk Shahi Kingdom of Kapisa, also known as "Kabul-Shahan". According to "Táríkhu-l Hind" by Al-Biruni, Kabul was governed by princes of Turkic lineage whose rule lasted for about 60 generations.


title: Kabul

text: The Kabul rulers built a defensive wall around the city to protect it from enemy raids. This wall has survived until today. It was briefly held by the Tibetan Empire between 801 and 815.


title: Kabul

text: The Islamic conquest reached modern-day Afghanistan in 642 AD, at a time when Kabul was independent. A number of failed expeditions were made to Islamise the region. In one of them, Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived in Kabul from Zaranj in the late 600s and converted 12,000 inhabitants to Islam before abandoning the city. Muslims were a minority until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar of Zaranj conquered Kabul in 870 and established the first Islamic dynasty in the region. It was reported that the rulers of Kabul were Muslims with non-Muslims living close by. Iranian traveller and geographer Istakhri described it in 921:


title: Kabul

text: Over the following centuries, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khwarazmshahs, Qarlughids, and Khaljis. In the 13th century, the invading Mongols caused major destruction in the region. Report of a massacre in the close by Bamiyan is recorded around this period, where the entire population of the valley was annihilated by the Mongol troops as revenge for the death of Genghis Khan's grandson. As a result, many natives of Afghanistan fled south toward the Indian subcontinent where some established dynasties in Delhi. The Chagatai Khanate and Kartids were vassals of Ilkhanate until the dissolution of the latter in 1335.


title: Kabul

text: Following the era of the Khalji dynasty in 1333, the famous Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta was visiting Kabul and wrote:


title: Kabul

text: In the 14th century, Kabul became a major trading centre under the kingdom of Timur ("Tamerlane"). In 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north and made into his headquarters, which became one of the principal cities of his later Mughal Empire. In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that:


title: Kabul

text: Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, a poet from Hindustan who visited at the time wrote: ""Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else."" It was from here that Babur began his 1526 conquest of Hindustan, which was ruled by the Afghan Lodi dynasty and began east of the Indus River in what is present-day Pakistan. Babur loved Kabul due to the fact that he lived in it for 20 years and the people were loyal to him, including the weather that he was used to. His wish to be buried in Kabul was finally granted. The inscription on his tomb contains the famous Persian couplet, which states:


title: Kabul

text: Kabul remained in Mughal control for the next 200 years. Though Mughal power became centred within the Indian subcontinent, Kabul retained importance as a frontier city for the empire; Abul Fazl, Emperor Akbar's chronicler, described it as one of the two gates to Hindustan (the other being Kandahar). As part of administrative reforms under Akbar, the city was made capital of the eponymous Mughal province, Kabul Subah. Under Mughal governance, Kabul became a prosperous urban centre, endowed with bazaars such as the non-extant Char Chatta. For the first time in its history, Kabul served as a mint centre, producing gold and silver Mughal coins up to the reign of Alamgir II. It acted as a military base for Shah Jahan's campaigns in Balkh and Badakhshan. Kabul was also a recreational retreat for the Mughals, who hunted here and constructed several gardens. Most of the Mughals' architectural contributions to the city (such as gardens, fortifications, and mosques) have not survived. During this time, the population was about 60,000.


title: Kabul

text: Under later Mughal Emperors, Kabul became neglected. The empire lost the city when it was captured in 1738 by Nader Shah, who was en route to invade the Indian subcontinent.


title: Kabul

text: Nine years after Nader Shah and his forces invaded and occupied the city as part of the more easternmost parts of his Empire, he was assassinated by his own officers, causing its rapid disintegration. Ahmad Shah Durrani, commander of 4,000 Abdali Afghans, asserted Pashtun rule in 1747 and further expanded his new Afghan Empire. His ascension to power marked the beginning of Afghanistan. By this time, Kabul had lost its status as a metropolitan city, and its population had decreased to 10,000. Interest in the city was renewed when Ahmad Shah's son Timur Shah Durrani, after inheriting power, transferred the capital of the Durrani Empire from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. Kabul experienced considerable urban development during the reigns of Timur Shah and his successor Zaman Shah; several religious and public buildings were constructed, and diverse groups of Sufis, jurists, and literary families were encouraged to settle the city through land grants and stipends. Kabul's first visitor from Europe was Englishman George Forster, who described 18th-century Kabul as "the best and cleanest city in Asia".


title: Kabul

text: In 1826, the kingdom was claimed by Dost Mohammad Khan, but in 1839 Shujah Shah Durrani was re-installed with the help of the British Empire during the First Anglo-Afghan War. In 1841 a local uprising resulted in the killing of the British resident and loss of mission in Kabul and the 1842 retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad. In 1842 the British returned to Kabul, demolishing the city's main "bazaar" in revenge before returning to British India (now Pakistan). Akbar Khan took to the throne from 1842 to 1845 and was followed by Dost Mohammad Khan.


title: Kabul

text: The Second Anglo-Afghan War broke out in 1879 when Kabul was under Sher Ali Khan's rule, as the Afghan king initially refused to accept British diplomatic missions and later the British residents were again massacred. During the war, Bala Hissar was partially destroyed by a fire and an explosion.


title: Kabul

text: Having become an established bazaar city, leather and textile industries developed by 1916. The majority of the population was concentrated on the south side of the river.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul modernised throughout the regime of King Habibullah Khan, with the introduction of electricity, telephone, and a postal service. The first modern high school, Habibia, was established in 1903. In 1919, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War, King Amanullah Khan announced Afghanistan's independence in foreign affairs at Eidgah Mosque in Kabul. Amanullah was reform-minded and he had a plan to build a new capital city on land about 6 km away from Kabul. This area was named Darulaman and it consisted of the famous Darul Aman Palace, where he later resided. Many educational institutions were founded in Kabul during the 1920s. In 1929 King Amanullah left Kabul due to a local uprising orchestrated by Habibullah Kalakani, but he himself was imprisoned and executed after nine months in power by King Nader Khan. Three years later, in 1933, the new king was assassinated during an award ceremony inside a school in Kabul. The throne was left to his 19-year-old son, Zahir Shah, who became the last King of Afghanistan. Unlike Amanullah Khan, Nader Khan and Zahir Shah had no plans to create a new capital city, and thus Kabul remained the country's seat of government.


title: Kabul

text: During the inter-war period France and Germany helped develop the country and maintained high schools and lycees in the capital, providing education for the children of the city's elite families. Kabul University opened in 1932 and by the 1960s western educated Afghans made up the majority of teachers. By the 1960s the majority of instructors at the university had degrees from Western universities.


title: Kabul

text: When Zahir Shah took power in 1933 Kabul had the only of rail in the country and the country had few internal telegraphs, phone lines or roads. Zahir turned to the Japanese, Germans and Italians for help developing a modern transportation and communication network. A radio tower built by the Germans in 1937 in Kabul allowed instant communication with outlying villages. A national bank and state cartels were organised to allow for economic modernisation. Textile mills, power plants, carpet and furniture factories were also built in Kabul, providing much-needed manufacturing and infrastructure.


title: Kabul

text: During the 1940s and 1950s, urbanisation accelerated and the built-up area was increased to 68 km by 1962, an almost fourteen-fold increase compared to 1925. The Serena Hotel opened in 1945 as the first Western style luxury hotel. Under the premiership of Mohammad Daoud Khan in the 1950s, foreign investment and development increased. In 1955, the Soviet Union forwarded $100 million in credit to Afghanistan, which financed public transportation, airports, a cement factory, mechanised bakery, a five-lane highway from Kabul to the Soviet border and dams, including the Salang Pass to the north of Kabul. During the 1960s, Soviet-style microrayon housing estates were built, containing sixty blocks. The government also built many ministry buildings in the brutalist architecture style. In the 1960s the first Marks & Spencer store in Central Asia was built in the city. Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967, which was maintained with the help of visiting German zoologists. During this time, Kabul experimented with liberalisation, notably the loosening of restrictions on speech and assembly which led to student politics in the capital and various demonstrations by Socialist, Maoist, liberal or Islamist factions.


title: Kabul

text: Foreigners flocked to Kabul and the nation's tourism industry picked up speed. To accompany the city with newfound tourism, western-style accommodations were opened in the 1960s, notably the Spinzar Hotel. Western, American and Japanese tourists were visiting the city's attractions including the "celebrated" Chicken Street and the National Museum that used to have some of Asia's finest cultural artifacts. Lonely Planet called it an upcoming "tourist trap" in 1973. Additionally, Pakistanis were also visiting to watch Indian movies in cinemas that were banned in their own country. During this time, Kabul had been nicknamed the "Paris of Central Asia". According to J. Bruce Amstutz, an American diplomat in Kabul:


title: Kabul

text: Until the late 1970s, Kabul was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail, coming from Bamyan to the west on towards Peshawar. At the time, Kabul became known for its street sales of hashish and became a major tourist attraction for western hippies.


title: Kabul

text: On 28 April 1978, President Daoud and most of his family were assassinated in Kabul's Presidential Palace in what is called the Saur Revolution. Pro-Soviet PDPA under Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power and slowly began to institute reforms. Private businesses were nationalised in the Soviet manner. Education was modified into the Soviet model, with lessons focusing on teaching Russian, Marxism–Leninism and learning of other countries belonging to the Soviet bloc.


title: Kabul

text: Amid growing internal chaos and heightened cold war tensions, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped on his way to work at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on 14 February 1979 and killed during a rescue attempt at the Serena Hotel. There were conflicting reports of who abducted Dubs and what demands were made for his release. Several senior Soviet officials were in the lobby of the hotel during a standoff with the kidnappers, who were holding Dubs in room 117. Afghan police, acting on the advice of Soviet advisors and over the objections of U.S. officials, launched a rescue attempt, during which Dubs was shot in the head from a distance of six inches and killed. Many questions about the killing remain unanswered.


title: Kabul

text: On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Kabul was heavily occupied by Soviet Armed Forces. In Pakistan, Director-General of the ISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman advocated for the idea of covert operation in Afghanistan by arming Islamic extremists who formed the mujahideen. General Rahman was heard loudly saying: ""Kabul must burn! Kabul must burn!"", and mastered the idea of proxy war in Afghanistan. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq authorised this operation under General Rahman, which was later merged with Operation Cyclone, a programme funded by the United States and carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency.


title: Kabul

text: The Soviets turned the city of Kabul into their command centre during the Soviet–Afghan War, and while fighting was mostly taking place in the countryside, Kabul was widely disturbed. Political crime and guerrilla attacks on military and government targets were common, and the sound of gunfire became commonplace at night in the outskirts. Large numbers of PDPA party members and Soviet troops were kidnapped or assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight, with acts of terrorism committed by civilians, anti-regime militias and also Khalqists. By July 1980, as much as twelve party members were being assassinated on a daily basis, and the Soviet Army stopped patrolling the city in January 1981. A major uprising against the Soviet presence broke out in Kabul in February 1980 in what is called the 3 Hut uprising. It led to a night curfew in the city that would remain in place for seven years. The Soviet Embassy also, was attacked four times with arms fire in the first five years of the war. A Western correspondent revisiting Kabul in December 1983 after a year, said that the city was "converted into a fortress bristling with weapons". Contrastingly, that same year American diplomat Charles Dunbar commented that the Soviet troops' presence was "surprisingly modest", and an author in a 1983 "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" article thought that the Soviet soldiers had a "friendly" atmosphere.


title: Kabul

text: The city's population increased from around 500,000 in 1978 to 1.5 million in 1988. The large influx were mostly internal refugees who fled other parts of the country for safety in Kabul. During this time, women made up 40% of the workforce. Soviet men and women were very common in the city's shopping roads, with the large availability of Western products. Most Soviet civilians (numbering between 8,000 and 10,000) lived in the northeastern Soviet-style Mikrorayon ("microraion") housing complex that was surrounded by barbed-wire and armed tanks. They sometimes received abuse from anti-Soviet civilians on the streets. The mujahideen rebels managed to strike at the city a few times—on 9 October 1987, a car bomb planted by a mujahideen group killed 27 people, and on 27 April 1988, in celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Saur Revolution, a truck bomb killed six people.


title: Kabul

text: After the fall of Mohammad Najibullah's government in April 1992, different mujahideen factions entered the city and formed a government under the Peshawar Accords, but Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's party refused to sign the accords and started shelling the city for power, which soon escalated into a full-scale conflict. This marked the start of a dark period of the city: at least 30,000 civilians were killed in a period known locally as the "Kabul Wars." About 80 percent of the city was devastated and destroyed by 1996. The old city and western areas were among the worst-hit. A "The New York Times" analyst said in 1996 that the city was more devastated than Sarajevo, which was similarly damaged during the Bosnian War at the time.


title: Kabul

text: The city suffered heavily under a bombardment campaign between rival militias which intensified during the summer of 1992. Its geographic location in a narrow valley made it an easy target from rockets fired by militias who based themselves in the surrounding mountains. Within two years' time, the majority of infrastructure was destroyed, a massive exodus of the population left to the countryside or abroad, and electricity and water was completely out. In late 1994, bombardment of the capital came to a temporary halt. These forces took steps to restore law and order. Courts started to work again, convicting individuals inside government troops who had committed crimes. On 27 September 1996, the hardline Taliban militia seized Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law), restricting women from work and education, conducting amputations against common thieves, and hit-squads from the infamous "Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" watching public beatings of people.


title: Kabul

text: In November 2001, the Northern Alliance captured Kabul after the Taliban had abandoned it following the American invasion. A month later a new government under President Hamid Karzai began to assemble. In the meantime, a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Afghanistan. The war-torn city began to see some positive development as many expatriate Afghans returned to the country. The city's population grew from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million in recent years. Many foreign embassies re-opened. In 2008 the process started to gradually hand over security responsibilities from NATO to Afghan forces. From late 2001 the city has been continuously rebuilt - many of the damaged landmarks were rebuilt or renovated, for example the Gardens of Babur in 2005, the arch of Paghman, the Mahmoud Khan Bridge clock tower in 2013, and the Taj Beg Palace in 2021. Local community efforts have also managed to restore war-ravaged local homes and dwellings.


title: Kabul

text: The city has experienced rapid urbanisation with an increasing population. Many informal settlements have been built. Since the late 2000s, numerous modern housing complexes have been built, many of which are gated and secured, to serve a growing Afghan middle class. Some of these include the Aria City (in District 10) and Golden City (District 8). Some complexes have been built out-of-town, such as the Omid-e-Sabz township (District 13), Qasaba/Khwaja Rawash township (District 15), and Sayed Jamaludin township (District 12).


title: Kabul

text: Throughout the years, a high-security "Green Zone" was formed in the centre of the city. In 2010, a series of manned checkpoints called the Ring of Steel was put into operation. Concrete blast walls also appeared throughout Kabul in the 2000s for security reasons.


title: Kabul

text: Despite frequent terrorist attacks in the city, mainly by Taliban insurgents, the city continued to develop and was the fifth fastest-growing city in the world as of 2012. Until August 2021, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) had been in charge of security in and around the city. Kabul was periodically the scene of deadly bombings carried out mostly by the Taliban and its wing the Haqqani network. Government employees, soldiers and ordinary civilians have all been targets of attacks. The Afghan government called the actions of the terrorists war crimes. The deadliest attack yet was a truck bombing in May 2017. The city was seized during the 2021 Taliban offensive on August 15, 2021; under Taliban rule the city and the country has experienced some relative calm, although a number of terrorist attacks have since been committed by the regional ISIL branch.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul was situated in the eastern part of the country, above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. Immediately to the south of the old city are the ancient city walls and the Sher Darwaza mountain, with the Shuhadayi Salihin cemetery behind it. A bit further east is the ancient Bala Hissar fortress with the Kol-e Hasmat Khan lake behind it.


title: Kabul

text: Its location has been described as a "bowl surrounded by mountains". Some of the mountains (which are called "koh") include: Khair Khana-e Shamali, Khwaja Rawash, Shakhi Baran Tey, Chihil Sutun, Qurugh, Khwaja Razaq and Sher Darwaza. There are also two mountains in between urban areas to the west: Koh-e Asamai (locally known as the "Television hill") and Ali Abad. Hills within the city (which are called "tapa") include Bibi Mahro and Maranjan.


title: Kabul

text: The Logar River flows into Kabul from the south, joining the Kabul River not far from the city centre.


title: Kabul

text: The city covers an area size of , making it by far the largest in the country. The closest foreign capital cities as the crow flies are Islamabad, Dushanbe, Tashkent, New Delhi and Bishkek. Kabul is roughly equidistant between Istanbul (western Asia) and Hanoi (eastern Asia).


title: Kabul

text: Kabul has a continental, cold semi-arid climate (BSk), with precipitation concentrated in the winter (almost exclusively falling as snow) and spring months. Summers have very low humidity, providing some relief from the heat. Autumns feature warm afternoons and sharply cooler evenings. Winters are very cold by South Asian standards, with a subzero January daily average temperature of , mainly due to the high elevation of the city. Spring is the wettest time of the year. Sunny conditions dominate year-round, and the annual mean temperature is only , much lower than that of Afghanistan's other large cities.


title: Kabul

text: The Kabul River flowed through the heart of the city, dividing the central bazaars. There are several bridges ("pul") crossing the river, the major ones being Pul-e Shah-Do Shamshira, Pul-e Bagh-e Omomi, Pul-e Khishti, and Pul-e Mahmoud. Due to climate change, since the 21st century, the river runs dry most of the year, only filling up in the wetter winter and spring seasons.


title: Kabul

text: A large lake and wetland was located just to the southeast from the old city called "Kol-e Hashmat Khan". The marsh provides a critical resting place to thousands of birds who fly between the Indian subcontinent and Siberia. In 2017 the government declared the lake a protected area. Some rare species of birds have been spotted at the lake, such as the Eastern imperial eagle and the Dalmatian pelican. Kabul's other large lake is Qargha, located some 9 km northwest from the centre. It is a major attraction for locals as well as foreigners.


title: Kabul

text: Air pollution is a major problem in the city during the winter season, when many residents burn low-quality fuels.


title: Kabul

text: The city of Kabul located within Kabul District, one of the 15 districts of Kabul Province. As the provincial capital, it forms a municipality ("shārwāli") which is further divided into 22 administrative districts called municipal districts or city districts ("nāhia"), which coincide with the official Police Districts (PD). The number of city districts increased from 11 to 18 in 2005, and then to 22 by 2010 after the incorporation of Districts 14 and 19–22 which were annexed by Kabul Municipality from surrounding rural districts. The city limits have thus substantially increased. Due to demarcation disputes with the provincial administration, some of these new districts are more administered by the provincial districts than the municipality.


title: Kabul

text: District 1 contains most of the old city. Downtown Kabul mostly consist of Districts 2, 4 and 10. In addition, Districts 3 and 6 house many commercial and governmental points of interests. The city's north and west are the most urbanised, as opposed to the south and east.


title: Kabul

text: The table below show the 22 city districts and their settlements, with information about its land size and usage, accurate as of 2011.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul's population was estimated in 2020 at about 4.6 million. The city's population has long fluctuated due to the wars. The lack of an up-to-date census means that there are various estimates of the population.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul's population was estimated to have been about 10,000 in 1700, 65,000 by 1878, and 120,000 by 1940. More recently, the population was around 500,000 in 1979, whilst another source claims 337,715 as of 1976. This figure rose to about 1.5 million by 1988, before dramatically dropping in the 1990s. Kabul became one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, with its population growing fourfold from 2001 to 2014. This was partly due to the return of refugees after the fall of the Taliban regime, and partly due to Afghans moving from other provinces mainly due to war between Taliban insurgents and Afghan government forces in their native areas as well as looking for labor. This resulting rapid urbanisation means that many residents today live in informal settlements. Shanty mud-brick homes on the mountainsides and steep hills have been built by them and these are usually poverty-stricken, not connected to the water and electricity grid. Although the settlements are illegal, they have been tolerated by authorities. In 2017 Kabul Municipality started a project to paint the homes in these settlements in bright colors in an effort to "cheer up" residents.


title: Kabul

text: Kabul is and has historically been the most ethnically diverse city in the country, with the population including Afghans from all over the country. About 55% of Kabul's population is Tajik. 25% Hazara, another 20% is Pashtun, and minority ethnic groups include Baloch, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Afghan Hindu. Almost three-quarters of the population of Kabul follow Sunni Islam, and around Twenty-five percent of residents are Shiites. Other religions in the city include Sikhism and Hinduism.Kabul Population 2022 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)


title: Kabul

text: Along with Pashtun, Tajik and Hazara communities, who make up the majority of the population of the city, there was a significant population of Uzbek, Turkmen, Kuchi, Qizilbash, Hindu, Sikh and other groups. The broader province of Kabul however, is dominated by Pashtun and Tajik groups. The Dari (Persian) and Pashto languages are widely used in the region, although Dari serves as the lingua franca. Multilingualism is common throughout the area, particularly among the Pashtun people.


title: Kabul

text: The term "Kabuli" (کابلی) is referred to the urbanites of the city. They were ethnic-neutral, typically speak Dari (Persian), were generally secularly educated, and favor Western fashion. Many Kabulites (especially elites and the upper class) left the country during the civil war and are now outnumbered by rural people who moved in from the countryside, mostly refugees but also labor-seekers.