Meaning: The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia.
A Deaf Afghan showed me this sign (above) years ago as well as a number of other Deaf students in a literacy class showed the other Deaf teacher.
Another variation is the arc movement from "5" handshape to "flat 0" on the side of the forehead as illustrated in the video above [contributed by Anesti Rafi, 2020].
There is a variation of this sign with the same location : "A" outward from the forehead into "5" in neutral space. Another variation of this sign is the backward.
Another sign as demonstrated above. [Video contributed by Felipe Eduardo Ramos, 2020.]
Variation from the late 20th century.
Another variation is shaking "A" (palm orientation outward). It's not distinct enough for ASL thus not much adopted into ASL.
Another sign was the same sign which means Osama bin Laden in ASL.
These are not conventional nor official signs in ASL. In addition, there are several different signs that ASL-speaking Deaf learn different (non-conventional) signs from Deaf Afghans.
This entry will be updated with further information.
ASL signs for the category of countries, including continents.
ASL signs for the category of cities around the world plus states and provinces in North America. Note that many loanwords/signs are borrowed from other countries if not available in ASL.
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