Arabic colors of red, green, black, and white are used. The current design was made official when the country gained independence in 1961. Green symbolizes peace, white is purity, red is blood (victory), and black represents war. Also, the black trapezium is said to express a Kuwaiti soldier riding a horse in the fugitive dust. The Kuwait flag is similar to that of the Iraq flag in the past (1938 or 1958).