Afghanistan banknotes

Our Banknote catalog of Afghanistan.

The Afghani (sign: Afs; Pashto: افغانۍ; Dari افغانی; code: AFN) is the currency of Afghanistan. It is nominally subdivided into 100 pul (پول), although there are no pul coins currently in circulation.

Historia:

Between 1925 and 1928, Treasury notes were introduced in denominations of 5, 10 and 50 Afghanis. In 1936, 2, 20 and 100 Afghani notes were added. The Bank of Afghanistan took over paper money production in 1939, issuing notes for 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 Afghanis. The 2 and 5 Afghani notes were replaced by coins in 1958. In 1993, 5000 and 10,000 Afghani notes were introduced.

"A 'pothole cave' or 'mouth of a shaft' (or Pit cave) is said to be visible on the 10,000 Afghanis banknote as a limited dark area in the hillside above the ancient 'pol' or gateway at the ruins near Lashkar Gah. This is possibly the entrance to one of the man-made undergrounds at Qal'a-i-Bost."

New Afganí 2002-

Between October 7, 2002, and January 2, 2003, a new Afghani was introduced with the ISO 4217 code AFN. No subdivisions have been issued. It replaced the previous Afghani at two distinct rates. Issues of the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani were replaced at a rate of 1000 to the new Afghani, whilst the issues of Abdul Rashid Dostum (the Northern Alliance) were replaced at a rate of 2000 to the new Afghani, The new Afghani was valued at 43 Afghani to the U.S. dollar. Prior to the reissue, there were more than 15 trillion Afghani in circulation after unrestrained printing under Taliban rule and during wars and occupation.

In October 2003, Afghan Central Bank governor Anwar Ul-Haq Ahadi announced that Afghans should use their own Afghani currency in daily transactions rather than United States dollars or Pakistani rupees. This was in preparation for October 8 when all prices in the Afghan marketplace were to be specified in Afghani.

After depreciating during the last quarter of 2003/04, the Afghani has been appreciating steadily, gaining 8 percent against the U.S. dollar between end-March 2004 and end-July 2004. This appreciation, at a time of increasing inflation, appears to reflect a greater willingness by the population to use the Afghani as a medium of exchange and as a store of value. This trend appears to be attributable to the relative stability of the exchange rate since the introduction of the new currency, administrative measures aimed at promoting its use, such as the requirement that shopkeepers must price goods in Afghani. Donors are increasingly making payments in Afghani instead of U.S. dollars and this appears to be widely accepted.

From Wikipedia