The region of Afghanistan is represented by the flag of a non-existent state

[ghost]

Describe the bug
When I see the flag representing the region of Afghanistan I'm transported 2 years in the past.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to https://github.com/twitter/twemoji/blob/master/assets/svg/1f1e6-1f1eb.svg
2. Click on nothing
3. Scroll down to the flag
4. Be stuffed into a time machine and sent 2 years in the past.

Expected behavior
See a flag that actually flies over region of Afghanistan and is relevant to the lives of Afghans in the current year.

Screenshots
None needed with the link above.

Environment
All.

Additional context

Unicode states:

Some region sequences represent countries (as recognized by the United Nations, for example); others represent territories that are associated with a country. Such territories may have flags of their own, or may use the flag of the country with which they are associated. Depictions of images for flags may be subject to constraints by the administration of that region.

There is no requirement that the flag for a region is the flag of a "recognized" government. If it was, the region of Taiwan would be represented by the flag of the People's Republic of China (as the Republic of China is only recognized by 13 small countries, and is not a member of the United Nations).

Even if it was however a requirement to be recognized (by Guatemala, apparently), just as it would be eccentric to represent the region of Taiwan with the flag of the Qing Dynasty it is similarly eccentric to continue to represent the region of Afghanistan with the flag of a government that no longer exists, not in exile, not on paper.

I recognize that Twemoji is for Twitter, and Twitter may feel that changing the flag overnight may upset some users who use it in their username or bio. A warning before changing it would be wise for Twitter. Regardless the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is not coming back, it can't as it doesn't exist, so the emoji is going to have to change eventually.

[wren-cal]

EDIT: This repo is not maintained. The below text still stands.

Twitter's current emoji for the AF flag is in line with other Unicode representations of the flag (turn on your phone and search "Afghanistan" in the emojis)

See the following: 🇦🇫 (depends on platform)

There's also the entire thing with the de facto flag of Afghanistan representing a government widely considered terroristic. They meet all the requirements to be marked a FTO by the State Department, and the only reason they're not on that list is purely for diplomatic/negotiating purposes.

No sane company would risk the bad optics from their consumer base by changing an emoji to represent that of a government widely considered terroristic, and while Twitter's recent moves are... less-than-sane, they're still smart enough to not do this.

[slweeb]

well said @wren-cal!

[ghost]

Twitter's current emoji for the AF flag is in line with other Unicode representations of the flag (turn on your phone and search "Afghanistan" in the emojis)

They have open issues on this matter as well, since their font is obviously out of date.

There's also the entire thing with the de facto flag of Afghanistan representing a government widely considered terroristic. They meet all the requirements to be marked a FTO by the State Department, and the only reason they're not on that list is purely for diplomatic/negotiating purposes.

Many governments today are led by former FTO's (such as the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist).

The flag twemoji is using is a historic artifact of the war on terror with no relevancy to today's life be it for Afghans themselves or the world at large. As stated before, it would be like having Taiwan represented by the flag of the Qing dynasty, not only is it wrong but arguably offensive.

No sane company would risk the bad optics from their consumer base by changing an emoji to represent that of a government widely considered terroristic, and while Twitter's recent moves are... less-than-sane, they're still smart enough to not do this.

Updating the flag does not necessarily require adopting the Islamic Emirate's flag (that would be the sanest thing, as it reflects reality). An alternative would be using a white flag with the letters AFG in the middle. This would fix the issue as it's no longer using the flag of a non-existent state and also allow for a transition for the inevitable day that Twitter and other emoji font creators do update their font to reflect reality.