Kosay from Uruzgan, South Afghanistan. TRC collection.In February 2010, Dr Willem Vogelsang acquired for the TRC a typical garment that is worn by the Kuchis (nomads) from southern Afghanistan. It is a so-called Kosay, which is a coat with long, empty sleeves. This Kosay was specially made and subsequently embroidered by Kuchi nomads at the request of Khalifa Sadaat Babozai, the district chief of Dehrawud, in southwestern Uruzgan, who then gave the coat as a present to Willem Vogelsang. The Kosay is rarely seen these days in Afghanistan, but in Uruzgan it is still rather popular. In the spring of 2009, a similar coat was worn by an old man who wandered in at a village meeting, also in Dehrawud (see photograph). The Kosay was far more widely worn in the nineteenth century, since it is discussed and illustrated by Mountstuart Elphinstone in his "An Account of the Kingdom of Afghaunistaun...", published in 1815.

 Old man wearing Kosay, Uruzgan, South Afghanistan