Interesting Choora Inscription

[ariel]

Official abbreviation for Kyrgizstan is KGZ.i have never heard of Ch’huras there.
Kyrghiz belong to Turkic tradition, and all their knives I have seen and read about are variations of Bichaq, p’chaq.

How about Khwaja Ghar district of Takhar province? Located right close to Khyber, next to Tadjikistan.

[RobT]

Ariel,

Thanks for the response. Your explanation sounds more plausible but there seems to be a bit of confusion about Kyrgistan's official abbreviation. Initially, I did a search for "made in KG" and came up with a bunch of sites using Cyrillic. Then I found one that said that the Kyrgistan's official abbreviation was KG (Kyrgyzstan - Abbreviation Finderhttps://www.abbreviationfinder.org). I also found a site ("ISO [Internationa Standard for Organization] Country Codes for Selected Countries - Citing Medicine - NCBI Bookshelf") which lists KG as the official abbreviation for Kyrgyzstan. Wikipedia also lists the official ISO 3166 code as KG.

Sincerely,
RobT

[ariel]

I got my version from the official list of the US Department of State, Dept. of Consular Affairs: KGZ. Hope they know:-)
Google “Kyrgizstan official abbreviation”
The abbreviation on your Ch’hura is written as K-G( with a dash, implying 2 separate words), not as KG.
You may also google “knives Kyrgizstan” and try to find something similar to the ch’hura.
Ch’hura is an exceedingly specific knife: even in Afghanistan it is seen only in the vicinity of the Khyber Pass.

Best I could do.

[mahratt]

Of course, the choora is now widespread throughout Afghanistan and samples of this dagger can be found in the bazaar in any city in this country. But, of course, Ariel is right when he says that these weapons are very specific and associated exclusively with Afghanistan. Chooras were not used in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

[ariel]

Just to make your life easier:
https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...-acronyms.html

Also pay attention that all abbreviations contain at least 3 letters, sometimes even 4, but never only two: otherwise, Chad, Chile and China would become a single entity CH ( but not C-H)'

Ch'hura is a purely Afghan object and name. Even its name is of Hindi origin ( " knife"), to which Kyrgyzstan has nothing in common.

Gosh, what kinds of strange nooks and crannies of languages do we enter on this Forum :-)

[RobT]

Hi All,

Thanks for your input and information. Whatever the KG stands for, it isn't Kyrgyzstan.

Sincerely,
RobT

[ausjulius]

KG is indeed kyrgizstan or can be.. but ive neevr seen a knife like that.. KG can also be kashgar. but this knife has a little bit of age on it not old but its not made last week and somebody carried it.. heres what i think.. afghans dont make knives these days, and for quite some time they were buying them form the uyghurs, tajiks and uzbeks.. there is several tajik and uzbek knife making areas in - if i recall osh and biskek that make knvies for the kyrgiz. it can be indeed that its made in kyrgizstan and for afghan customers by tajik knife makers for example. but its far to "traditional" for the most recent products made in these places for their own consumption,, same with the uyghur knife makers.. most knives made these days are just regular buchak or lil clip point bowies or other sort of more utility styles.. (these type of knife were made in the past and you can see illistrations fo them from kashgar and bukhara ect.) i would guess its either from kashkar or from kyrgizstan and indeed made to sell, but not to any americans but to local afghans.. you can see some footage of pashtuns wearing these and some look recently made.. i was watching a documentary the other day of female to male crossdressing customs among pashtuns in afghanistan and one woman in mans attair had what looks to eb a recently made pesh kabz knife and pistol on a pistol belt.... and ive seen several other in images that appear recently made..