computer locale requirements for afghanistancomputer locale requirements for afghanistan background....

Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan

Background. In December 2002 the United Nations Development Programme CountryOffice for Afghanistan commissioned a report on the language support required for Pashtoand Dari, Afghanistan’s official languages. In addition, the Project Team (Michael Everson ofEverson Typography, Dublin, and Roozbeh Pournader of the FarsiWeb Project, Tehran) wassuccessful in collecting similar information for a number of other languages of Afghanistan,namely, Southern Uzbek and Brahui. (The survey sought information on other languages,such as Hazaragi, Aimaq, Southwest Pashai, Western Balochi, and Turkmen, but conclusiveresponses were not available.)

Need for support. The reason this report has been commissioned is that none of the majorcomputer software providers currently supports any of these languages – adequately or at all– and this causes serious constraints and problems for all aspects of information technologyfor the entire country. Language support involves inputting, display and printing,processing, and provision of a user’s locale format information.

Fonts: alphabets and glyph shapes. This document presents information on the lettersrequired to support the languages of Afghanistan, and the minimum shaping behaviourrequired for correct rendering. We urge software manufacturers in the strongest possibleterms to update their Arabic and Persian fonts to include the letters and combinationswhich are missing. A summary of these forms is found at the end of the document.

Input: keyboard layouts. This document also proposes keyboard layouts suitable forinputting the languages of Afghanistan. Responses to our questionnaire did not addresskeyboard layout issues; however, we did receive word-of-mouth comments during theinterviews we held at the University of Kabul, the Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, and theAfghanistan Assistence Coordination Authority. Most people were using old Iranian-mademechanical typewriters based on the Iranian standard ISIRI 820:1973 (Characterarrangement on keyboards of Persian typewriters), and because they were used to them, theysaid that they preferred these to anything else. Because, however, that layout is glyph-basedand makes use of two to four keys to form each letter, it does not suit modern computer-based entry mechanisms which use one key per letter. Accordingly, we determined that itwas necessary to develop practical keyboard layouts for Afghanistan. The ISIRI 2901:1994(Keyboard layout for Farsi: Characters in Computer) layout, which we used in the Farsisample in the questionnaires, resembles the general layout of ISIRI 820 quite closely, and ismodernized for current usage. Therefore, we used the general layout of ISIRI 2901 to developthe Dari layout, and then modified that to derive the Pashto and Uzbek layouts to minimizethe learning curve for users as much as possible. Each of the keyboard layouts enables theuser to input characters used in each of the languages supported by this report. The basicletters of the language for which the keyboard layout is designed are always on the plain andshifted keys. In some software environments the AltGr keys may not be supported.

United Nations Development Programme

Shah Mahmood Ghazi Watt, Kabul, Afghanistan • Tel: +93 210 1680 • E-mail: [email protected] • ©2003 UNDP

AfghanistanAfghan Transitional Islamic AdministrationMinistry of Communications

Locales: ICU data. Additional data we collected has been formatted in locale specificationsvia the ICU (International Components for Unicode) website hosted at“http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/”. In this way, the Afghan preferred formats for language,date format (including month and day names and calendar), time format, number format,and currency format will be available to vendors who can provide software which will be ofuse to the people of Afghanistan, at governmental, business, academic, and local level.Whenever ICU locale data format is adequate for describing a part of the locale information,the data in the ICU registry should be consulted for normative and accurate data. Thespecifications shown in this report are only informative examples in comparison with theICU data files we have provided. However, in areas such as the Afghan calendar, which ICUlocales cannot specify, the text in this report should be considered normative. (Note that theICU files we have prepared are not standalone. They must be used in combination withother locale data, most importantly the “fa.txt” and “root.txt” files from ICU itself.)

Ordering. Sorting order specification is also provided with the ICU locales. This deservessome additional discussion here. In our analysis of the Pashto, Dari, and Uzbek alphabetsprovided to us, together with our analysis of authoritative Pashto-English and Pashto-Pashtodictionaries, as well as comparison of a Dari-English dictionary with a number of bilingualand monolingual Persian dictionaries, we discovered that, with the exception of thetreatment of hamza, the alphabets were all mutually compatible with respect to ordering.Because the ordering of “singular” hamza ( �) is of little consequence – it is rare and typicallycomes toward the end of a word – we determined that placing it between alef and beh wouldhave two advantages: first, it would allow all of the languages of Afghanistan to avail of asingle unified sort order, and second, it would enable the closely-related Persian languages,Dari and Farsi, to be sorted in the same way. It should be mentioned, however, that theorder shown in this report is only the general ordering for letters, and does not show theordering of less significant elements like the ordering of vowel marks or the handling ofpunctuation or Unicode control characters. The complete and exact ordering is the onespecified in the ICU locale data files.

We commend this report to the software vendors of the world, and trust that itsspecifications will be implemented as a matter of urgency, so that the people Afghanistancan avail of the essential tools which many of us take for granted.

˛ ¸Michael Everson Roozbeh PournaderEverson Typography, Dublin FarsiWeb Project, Tehranwww.evertype.com www.farsiweb.info

The latest version of this report, updates, and other resources (such as keyboard layoutspecifications in data files conformant to ISO/IEC 9995, Information Technology – Keyboardlayouts for text and office systems, and ICU data files based on this report) are available at“http://www.evertype.com/standards/af/”.

© Copyright 2003 United Nations Development Programme, Michael Everson, and Roozbeh Pournader.Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is notallowed. The authors welcome feedback from people who download and use the report and data files.Latest update: 2003-07-29

©2003 UNDP • Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan • 2


The Pashto Alphabet

The table below lists the letters used to write Pashto, including loanwords from Arabic.Our survey indicated a number of different sorting orders for Pashto. All respondantssaid that the alphabetic order was (reading from left to right) � > � > � > � > � > �.This is the order agreed on at a 1991 meeting of Pashto experts in Peshawar. It should benoted that the most authoritative dictionary, the Pas. tó-Pas. tó Descriptive Dictionary, 4volumes (Department of Linguistics, Institute of Languages and Literature, Academy ofSciences of Afghanistan, 1979–1987) uses the order � > � > � > � > � > �, as doesRahimi and Rohi’s Pashto-English Dictionary (1979). Materials for schoolchildrencollected in Kabul, on the other hand, gave this same sequence as � > � > � > � > � >�. Nevertheless, we suggest that the order agreed at the 1991 Peshawar meeting is thebest to follow.

In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level aregiven flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. Wehave also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to showhow Pashto data in that orthography will sort.

Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Arabic Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui

0622 ā � �] — — • • • •

0627 alif � �] — — • • • • •

0623 alif�hamza ] — — • • • • •

0671 alif�wasla � �] — — •

0625 al.�h.�below � �] — — •

0621 hamza � — — — • • • • •

0628 be �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067E pe � �] ]�] ]� • • • •

062A te � �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067C �e � �] ]�] ]� •

0679 Urdu �e � �] ]�] ]� •

062B se � �] ]�] ] • • • • •

062C jim � !] ]"] ]# • • • • •

0681 ǰe � �] ]] ] •

0686 če � �] ]�] ] • • • •

0685 ce � �] ]�] ]� •

062D he � $] ]%] ]& • • • • •





062E xe � '] ](] ]) • • • • •

062F dāl * +] — — • • • • •

0689 �āl � �] — — •

0688 Urdu �āl � �] — — •

0630 zāl , -] — — • • • • •

0631 re . /] — — • • • • •

0693 �e � �] — — •

0691 Urdu �e � �] — — •

0632 ze 0 1] — — • • • • •

0698 že � �] — — • • • •

0696 �e � �] — — •

0633 sin 2 3] ]4] ]5 • • • • •

0634 šin 6 7] ]8] ]9 • • • • •

069A �in � �] ]�] ] •

0635 swāt : ;] ]<] ]= • • • • •

0636 zād > ?] ]@] ]A • • • • •

0637 twe B C] ]D] ]E • • • • •

0638 zwe F G] ]H] ]I • • • • •

0639 �ayn J K] ]L] ]M • • • • •

063A ǧayn N O] ]P] ]Q • • • • •

0641 fe R S] ]T] ]U • • • • •

0642 qāf V W] ]X] ]Y • • • • •

06A9 kāf ! "] ]Z] ][ • • • •

0643 Arabic kāf \ ]] ]Z] ][ •

06AB gāf # $] ]%] ]& •

06AF Persian gāf ' (] ])] ]* • • •

0644 lām ^ _] ]`] ]a • • • • •

06B7 Brahui lhām + ,] ]-] ]. •

0645 mim b c] ]d] ]e • • • • •

0646 nun f g] ]h] ]i • • • • •



06BA nun ghunna j k] — — •

06BC �un / 0] ]1] ]2 •

0648 wāw l m] — — • • • • •

0624 wāw hamza n o] — — • • • • •

06C7 Uzbek u � �] — — •

06C9 Uzbek o � �] — — •

0647 he p q] ]r] ]s • • • • •

0629 g��da te t u] — — • • • • •

06CC ye v w] ]x] ]y • • • •

0649 alef maksura — — ]z] ]{ •

06D2 Urdu ye 3 4] — — •

064A saxta ye | }] — — • • •

06D0 pasta ye 5 6] ~] ]� • •

06CD ��ǰina ye 7 8] — — •

0626 fe�li ye � �] �] ]� • • • •

Note. Since the shapes of the ]y initial and ]x] medial forms of the Pashto letters v ye(U+06CC) and | saxta ye (U+064A) are exactly the same, to avoid encoding ambiguitiesin Pashto data – and its known implications in security-related issues including possiblePashto domain names – we recommend that the Unicode character for saxta ye, namely| U+064A, never be used in initial and medial forms in Pashto data. Where input data isexplicitly known to be in Pashto, applications should automatically replace such usagein the input data (for example, in keyboard input) with the normal ye character, namelyv U+06CC. Applications may not automatically change U+064A to U+06CC in Pashtoinput if it is used in final or isolated forms.



The Dari Alphabet

The table below lists the letters used to write Dari, including loanwords from Arabic. Inthe list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level are givenflush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. We havealso given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to show howPashto data in that orthography will sort.


0622 ā � �] — — • • • •

0627 alef � �] — — • • • • •

0623 alef�hamza ] — — • • • • •

0671 alif�wasla � �] — — •

0625 al.�h.�below � �] — — •

0621 hamza � — — — • • • • •

0628 be �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067E pe � �] ]�] ]� • • • •

062A te � �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067C Pashto �e � �] ]�] ]� •

0679 Urdu �e � �] ]�] ]� •

062B se � �] ]�] ] • • • • •

062C jim � !] ]"] ]# • • • • •

0681 Pashto ǰe � �] ]] ] •

0686 če � �] ]�] ] • • • •

0685 Pashto ce � �] ]�] ]� •

062D he � $] ]%] ]& • • • • •

062E xe � '] ](] ]) • • • • •

062F dāl * +] — — • • • • •

0689 Pashto �āl � �] — — •

0688 Urdu �āl � �] — — •

0630 zāl , -] — — • • • • •

0631 re . /] — — • • • • •




0693 Pashto �e � �] — — •

0691 Urdu �e � �] — — •

0632 ze 0 1] — — • • • • •

0698 že � �] — — • • • •

0696 Pashto �e � �] — — •

0633 sin 2 3] ]4] ]5 • • • • •

0634 šin 6 7] ]8] ]9 • • • • •

069A Pashto �in � �] ]�] ] •

0635 sād : ;] ]<] ]= • • • • •

0636 zād > ?] ]@] ]A • • • • •

0637 tā B C] ]D] ]E • • • • •

0638 zā F G] ]H] ]I • • • • •

0639 ayn J K] ]L] ]M • • • • •

063A qayn N O] ]P] ]Q • • • • •

0641 fe R S] ]T] ]U • • • • •

0642 qāf V W] ]X] ]Y • • • • •

06A9 kāf ! "] ]Z] ][ • • • •

0643 Arabic kāf \ ]] ]Z] ][ •

06AB Pashto gāf # $] ]%] ]& •

06AF gāf ' (] ])] ]* • • •

0644 lām ^ _] ]`] ]a • • • • •

06B7 Brahui lhām + ,] ]-] ]. •

0645 mīm b c] ]d] ]e • • • • •

0646 nūn f g] ]h] ]i • • • • •

06BA nūn ghunna j k] — — •

06BC Pashto �ūn / 0] ]1] ]2 •

0648 vāv l m] — — • • • • •

0624 vāv hamza n o] — — • • • • •

06C7 Uzbek u � �] — — •

06C9 Uzbek o � �] — — •




0647 he p q] ]r] ]s • • • • •

0629 te�ye gerd t u] — — • • • • •

06CC ye v w] ]x] ]y • • • •

0649alef�e maqsura — — ]z] ]{ •

06D2 Urdu ye 3 4] — — •

064A saxta ye | }] — — • • •

06D0 pasta ye 5 6] ~] ]� • •

06CD ��ǰina ye 7 8] — — •

0626 ye hamza � �] �] ]� • • • •



The Southern Uzbek Alphabet

The table below lists the letters used to write Southern Uzbek, including loanwords fromArabic. This is a new official orthography the development of which was inspired by theUNDP project. In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at thefirst level are given flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level areindented. We have also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashtoorthographies to show how Pashto data in that orthography will sort.


0622 alef�madha � �] — — • • • •

0627 alef � �] — — • • • • •

0623 alef�hamza ] — — • • • • •

0671 alif�wasla � �] — — •

0625 al.�h.�below � �] — — •

0621 hamza � — — — • • • • •

0628 beh �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067E peh � �] ]�] ]� • • • •

062A teh � �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067C Pashto �eh � �] ]�] ]� •

0679 Urdu �eh � �] ]�] ]� •

062B seh � �] ]�] ] • • • • •

062C jeem � !] ]"] ]# • • • • •

0681 Pashto ǰeh � �] ]] ] •

0686 cheh � �] ]�] ] • • • •

0685 Pashto ceh � �] ]�] ]� •

062D heh � $] ]%] ]& • • • • •

062E kheh � '] ](] ]) • • • • •

062F dal * +] — — • • • • •

0689 Pashto �al � �] — — •

0688 Urdu �al � �] — — •

0630 zal , -] — — • • • • •

0631 reh . /] — — • • • • •




0693 Pashto �eh � �] — — •

0691 Urdu �eh � �] — — •

0632 zeh 0 1] — — • • • • •

0698 zheh � �] — — • • • •

0696 Pashto �eh � �] — — •

0633 sin 2 3] ]4] ]5 • • • • •

0634 shin 6 7] ]8] ]9 • • • • •

069A Pashto �in � �] ]�] ] •

0635 swad : ;] ]<] ]= • • • • •

0636 zwad > ?] ]@] ]A • • • • •

0637 tuy B C] ]D] ]E • • • • •

0638 zuy F G] ]H] ]I • • • • •

0639 ’ain J K] ]L] ]M • • • • •

063A ghain N O] ]P] ]Q • • • • •

0641 feh R S] ]T] ]U • • • • •

0642 qaf V W] ]X] ]Y • • • • •

06A9 kaf ! "] ]Z] ][ • • • •

0643 Arabic kaf \ ]] ]Z] ][ •

06AB Pashto gaf # $] ]%] ]& •

06AF gaf ' (] ])] ]* • • •

0644 lam ^ _] ]`] ]a • • • • •

06B7 Brahui lham + ,] ]-] ]. •

0645 meem b c] ]d] ]e • • • • •

0646 nuun f g] ]h] ]i • • • • •

06BA nuun ghunna j k] — — •

06BC Pashto �uun / 0] ]1] ]2 •

0648 waw l m] — — • • • • •

0624 waw hamza n o] — — • • • • •

06C7 u � �] — — •

06C9 o’ � �] — — •




0647 heh p q] ]r] ]s • • • • •

0629 teh marbuta t u] — — • • • • •

06CC yih v w] ]x] ]y • • • •


06D2 Urdu yih 3 4] — — •

064A yeeh | }] — — • • •

06D0 yeh 5 6] ~] ]� • •

06CD ��ǰina yih 7 8] — — •

0626 yih hamza � �] �] ]� • • • •

Note. To avoid encoding ambiguities in Uzbek data, and its known implications insecurity-related issues including possible Uzbek Internet domain names, werecommend that the Uzbek letter u always be encoded as � U+06C7 and never as asequence of waw and a damma. Where input data is explicitly known to be in Uzbek,applications should automatically replace a waw followed by a damma in the input data(for example, in keyboard input) with the U+06C7 character.



The Brahui Alphabet

The table below lists the letters used to write Brahui, including loanwords from Arabic.Brahui is not widely written either in Pakistan, where most Brahui speakers live, or inAfghanistan. An expert respondant informed us that in Pakistan, Brahui speakers useUrdu orthography with the addition of one letter, + lham. If Brahui is written inAfghanistan, it may prefer the Pashto letters such as � �e to the corresponding Urdu ��e. We have no evidence of this, but have given the Brahui alphabet here in order toensure the support of its own unique letter.

In the list below, the Unicode letters which sort as separate letters at the first level aregiven flush to the left margin, and letters which sort at the second level are indented. Wehave also given the Urdu letters which are used in older Pashto orthographies to showhow Pashto data in that orthography will sort.


0622 ā � �] — — • • • • •

0627 alif � �] — — • • • • •

0623 alif�hamza ] — — • • • • •

0671 alif�wasla � �] — — •

0625 al.�h.�below � �] — — •

0621 hamza � — — — • • • • •

0628 be �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067E pe � �] ]�] ]� • • • •

062A te � �] ]�] ]� • • • • •

067C �e � �] ]�] ]� •

0679 Urdu �e � �] ]�] ]� •

062B se � �] ]�] ] • • • • •

062C jim � !] ]"] ]# • • • • •

0681 ǰe � �] ]] ] •

0686 če � �] ]�] ] • • • •

0685 ce � �] ]�] ]� •

062D he � $] ]%] ]& • • • • •

062E xe � '] ](] ]) • • • • •

062F dāl * +] — — • • • • •




0689 �āl � �] — — •

0688 Urdu �āl � �] — — •

0630 zāl , -] — — • • • • •

0631 re . /] — — • • • • •

0693 �e � �] — — •

0691 Urdu �e � �] — — •

0632 ze 0 1] — — • • • • •

0698 že � �] — — • • • •

0696 �e � �] — — •

0633 sin 2 3] ]4] ]5 • • • • •

0634 šin 6 7] ]8] ]9 • • • • •

069A �in � �] ]�] ] •

0635 swāt : ;] ]<] ]= • • • • •

0636 zād > ?] ]@] ]A • • • • •

0637 twe B C] ]D] ]E • • • • •

0638 zwe F G] ]H] ]I • • • • •

0639 �ayn J K] ]L] ]M • • • • •

063A ǧayn N O] ]P] ]Q • • • • •

0641 fe R S] ]T] ]U • • • • •

0642 qāf V W] ]X] ]Y • • • • •

06A9 kāf ! "] ]Z] ][ • • • •

0643 Arabic kāf \ ]] ]Z] ][ •

06AB Pashto gāf # $] ]%] ]& •

06AF gāf ' (] ])] ]* • • •

0644 lām ^ _] ]`] ]a • • • • •

06B7 lhām + ,] ]-] ]. •

0645 mim b c] ]d] ]e • • • • •

0646 nun f g] ]h] ]i • • • • •


06BC �un / 0] ]1] ]2 •




0648 wāw l m] — — • • • • •

0624 wāw hamza n o] — — • • • • •

06C7 Uzbek u � �] — — •

06C9 Uzbek o � �] — — •

0647 he p q] ]r] ]s • • • • •

0629 te marbuta t u] — — • • • • •

06CC ye v w] ]x] ]y • • • •


06D2 Urdu ye 3 4] — — •

064A saxta ye | }] — — • • •

06D0 pasta ye 5 6] ~] ]� • •

06CD ��ǰina ye 7 8] — — •

0626 ye hamza � �] �] ]� • • • •



Glyph-shape Requirements for Afghanistan

The table below lists the glyphs not usually found in most Arabic fonts, which it isessential to support in order to enable the people of Afghanistan to write and processtheir languages.

Unicode Name isolated final medial initial Dari Pashto Uzbek Brahui067E pe � �] ]�] ]� • • • •

067C Pashto �e � �] ]�] ]� •

0679 Urdu �e � �] ]�] ]� •

0681 ǰe � �] ]] ] •

0686 če � �] ]�] ] • • • •

0685 ce � �] ]�] ]� •

0689 �āl � �] — — •

0688 Urdu �āl � �] — — •

0693 �e � �] — — •

0691 Urdu �e � �] — — •

0698 že � �] — — • • • •

0696 �e � �] — — •

069A �in � �] ]�] ] •

06A9 Persian kāf ! "] ]Z] ][ • • • •

06AB Pashto gāf # $] ]%] ]& •

06AF gāf ' (] ])] ]* • • •

06B7 lhām + ,] ]-] ]. •


06BC �un / 0] ]1] ]2 •

06C7 Uzbek u � �] — — •

06C9 Uzbek o � �] — — •

06CC ye v w] ]x] ]y • • • •

06D2 Urdu ye 3 4] — — •

06D0 pasta ye 5 6] ~] ]� • •

06CD ��ǰina ye 7 8] — — •





Almost all of the languages used in Afghanistan require the use of diacritical markswhich follow a base letter, to make pronunciation or grammar usage clear. These marksare known by different names in the different languages of Afghanistan, but are listedhere with their Unicode character names. Font and application developers shouldensure that they support these marks in their products. The zwarakay at the bottom ofthe list is used in some Pashto educational materials, and as a result of this survey is nowbeing proposed for addition to the Unicode Standard. Until such time as it has beenformally encoded, we recommend the Private Use Area code position U+E659 for thezwarakay.

Unicode Name064B fathatan e

064C dammatan g

064D kasratan f

064E fatha a

064F damma c

0650 kasra b

Unicode Name0651 shadda h

0652 sukun d

0653 maddah above l

0654 hamza above k

0670 superscript alef j

(E659) zwarakay i

One additional character appears to be in wide use by local banks and accountants inAfghanistan, namely the afghani sign, q. This character is also being proposed foraddition to the Unicode Standard. Until such time as it has been formally encoded, werecommend the Private Use Area code position U+E0B4 for the afghani sign. It should benoted that glyph variants for this character exist, for example r and p, but in ourdiscussions several experts indicated that the first one shown above is the most originaland may therefore be more appropriate. Research on the best glyph shape is stillongoing. As of this writing, neither the Ministry of Finance nor Da Afghanistan Bank hadformally adopted this symbol for use, although it is in use in both the public and privatesectors.

It should also be mentioned that certain punctuation marks and control characters areused in Afghan computing. We have listed all of these characters on the collectively-equivalent keyboard layouts. Font developers are expected to include all of theseadditional characters in fonts which are intended to support Afghan languages.


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Keyboard layouts for Afghanistan

Key assignments for Pashto, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:


Computer Locale Requirements for AfghanistanD

ari k

eyb

oar

d la

you

t fo

r A

fgh

anis

tan

by M

icha

el E

vers

on &

Roo

zbeh

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rnad

er,

2003

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05

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Key assignments for Dari, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:


Computer Locale Requirements for AfghanistanS

ou

ther

n U

zbek

key

bo

ard

layo

ut

for

Afg

han

ista

nby

Mic

hael

Eve

rson

& R

oozb

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ourn

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Key assignments for Southern Uzbek, using ISO/IEC 9995 notation:

The official calendar of Afghanistan

The official calendar of Afghanistan is the solar Islamic calendar (also known as thePersian calendar or the hejrı-e samsı calendar). This calendar counts up from the year ofthe Hegira of Muhammad. The Gregorian calendar is used in international activities oroccasions, and the Lunar Islamic calendar (also known as hejrı-e qamarı ) is used forreligious ceremonies and some of the holidays.

The Persian calendar of Afghanistan, although very similiar to the Persian calendar ofIran, differs in the algorithm it uses to calculate leap years, which may lead to a one-daydifference for some years. There are plans to synchronize these calendars, but thepresent report only describes the current calendar of Afghanistan. The Persian calendarhas 12 months, consisting of 29 to 31 days. The names of the months in Dari and Pashto,together with the number of the days in each month, is given below. Other languages ofAfghanistan usually use the Dari names of the months.

Dari Pashto Days_d& Hamal v.l Wray 31.m Sawr wymQ Ǧwayay 31

�0m# Jawzā wam*/�Q Ǧbargolay 31f�E/5 Saratān ��)h Čungā� 31

+5� Asad v/e0 Zmaray 31q`�h5 Sonbola v�l Wa�ay 31f�1xe Mīzān q`� T�la 30 /XM Aqrab b�a La�am 302mY Qaws 7+hxa Lind�y 30v+# Jady wemQ/e Marǧūmay 30

ma* Dalv qQ�m`5 Salwāǧ� 30�m& Hūt �[ Kab 29 (30 in leap years)

Iranian leap years are computed astronomically, but the Afghan leap years have anarithmetic formula. The formula is for synchronizing with the Gregorian calendar, and israther simple in that regard: the Persian year x is a leap year if and only if the Gregorianyear x + 621 is a leap year. For example, the Persian year 1383 will be a leap year in theAfghan Persian calendar, since the Gregorian year 2004 will be a leap year. For the sakeof conversion between Gregorian dates and Persian years, one can use the followingdate for a reference point: 1 Hamal 1382 = 21 March 2003.

The Lunar Islamic calendar used in Afghanistan is a civil Lunar Islamic calendar, basedon pre-computation of the months. The number of the days of the months are 29 and 30days alternatively. Leap years occur every two or three years, and make the monthDhu l-Qa’da a day longer. The exact algorithm used for leap years is reported to becomplicated and was not made available to us. It is worth mentioning that because ofthe importance of Islamic months Ramadan and Shawwal in Muslim fasting and otherceremonies, the starting day of these two months is as observed by religious orgovernmental authorities rather than pre-computed. There have been (and will be)frequent cases of one day difference between the pre-computed calendar and theobserved one. This difference is usually adjusted at the end of Shawwal, and the pre-computed calendar is used from the next month.



Acknowledgements

This report could not have been produced without the kind and expert assistance of a great many people.Our heartfelt thanks are especially given to Habibullah Rafi and to Said Marjan Zazai, who shared theirexpertise with great kindness and patience. We apologize to any person whose name we have inadvertantlyomitted here. – ME & RP



Muhammad Afzal, University of Arid Agriculture,Rawalpindi

Nurollah Altay, Institute of Uzbek and TurkmenLanguages and Literature, Kabul

Muhammad Assam, Ministry of Communications,Kabul

Christian Cooke, fishamble.net, DublinNoorullah Delawari, Ministry of Finance, KabulRahim Ebrahim, Institute of Uzbek and Turkmen

Languages and Literature, KabulAbbas Edalat, Science and Arts Foundation,

LondonJoseph Elfenbein, Ancient India and Iran Trust,

CambridgeBehdad Esfahbod, FarsiWeb Project, TehranAsmus Freytag, Asmus, Inc., SeattleRoman Gehring, SIL InternationalJost Gippert, TITUS project, FrankfurtBob Hallissy, SIL International, Horsleys Green,

EnglandJavid Hamdard, Ministry of Finance, KabulHoria Samira Hamidi, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulFazl Ahmad Hedayat, Head Office of Geodesy and

Cartography, KabulSarmad Hussain, Foundation for Advancement of

Science and Technology, LahoreShirzad Kamawal, shirzad.de, BerlinJonathan Kew, SIL International, Horsleys Green,

EnglandRaj Wali Shah Khattak, Pushto Academy,

University of PeshawarGhutay Khawre, Afghanistan Academy of Sciences,

KabulAlireza Kheirkhahan, FarsiWeb Project, TehranMohammad Alem Kuhkan, Radio Liberty, KabulSayyed Mohammad Alem Labib, Institute of

Uzbek and Turkmen Languages and Literature,Kabul

Marc Lepage, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulAbdur Rauf Mahsood, Khpala Pashto, PeshawarNasrollah Shubman Mangol, Afghanistan

Academy of Sciences, KabulMuhammad Aimal Marjan, Ministry of

Communications, KabulRon Meyer-Hagen, SIL InternationalYari Ata Mohammad, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulErcan Murat, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulMohammad Tamim Noori, Afghanistan Assistance

Coordination Authority, KabulMohammad Amin Oriya, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulKnut Ostby, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulAh. Farhad Popal, Ministry of Finance, KabulHabibullah Rafi, Kelid Magazine, Kabul

Elnaz Sarbar, FarsiWeb Project, TehranJames Seng, Infocomm Development Authority,

SingaporeMohammad Sepehry Rad, High Council of Infor-

matics of Iran, TehranNazar Ahmad Shah, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulMr Shams, Department of Linguistics, University of

KabulNicholas Sims-Williams, School of Oriental and

African Studies, LondonMasoum Stanekzai, Ministry of Communications,

KabulYahya Tabesh, Sharif University of Technology,

TehranMassoumeh Torfeh, Afghanistan Assistance

Coordination Authority, KabulMohammad Ya’ghub Vahedi, Institute of Uzbek

and Turkmen Languages and Literature, KabulHaron Wardak, hewad.com, GöteborgKen Whistler, Sybase, Dublin, CaliforniaCathy Wissink, Microsoft, RedmondIsmail Yoon, University of KabulGhulam Rasoul Yosoufzai, Ministry of Information

and Culture, KabulMahmood Zahir, UNDP Afghanistan, KabulAbdul Zahir Gulistani, Ministry of Education,

KabulSaid Marjan Zazai, Afghanistan Assistance

Coordination Authority, Kabul

We are also grateful to the staff of the followingorganizations:

Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, KabulAfghan National Bank, KabulCentre for Dari Langauge and Literature, University

of KabulDa Afghanistan Bank, KabulDepartment of Literature and Linguistics,

University of KabulDepartment of Turkmen and Uzbek Language and

Literature, School of Literature and HumanSciences, Balkh University

Institute of Uzbek and Turkmen Languages & Liter-ature, Afghanistan Academy of Sciences, Kabul

Ministry of Communication, KabulMinistry of Education, KabulMinistry of Finance, KabulMinistry of Foreign Affairs, KabulMinistry of Information and Culture, KabulOffice for Public Libraries, KabulUNDP Afghanistan, Kabul

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