The Kabul Fall of 2021 by Murtaza Kaleem - HTML preview

Table of Content

Authors’ forward page 1

Chapter 1

An Introduction page 4

Chapter 2

Historical Synopsis of the Afghan Land page 8

Chapter 3

Fast Forward: Afghanistan in the 20th Century page 12

Chapter 4

The Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)

Chapter 5

The US failure and Taliban success: alienation of the Afghan people or something else?

Chapter 6

This was the case in Afghanistan?

Chapter 7

Taliban strategy for the Kabul Fall Chapter 8

The US failures in Afghanistan: Strategically, Politically, and Economically

Chapter 9

Capping the discussion

Chapter 10

List of Afghan Kings, Monarchs, Heads of State and Government

1

Authors’ forward

Afghanistan known to be the graveyard of empires has a long history of palatial conspiracies, wars, and proxies between the superpowers and their regional allies as well.

Moscow’s attack on Afghanistan, the support of the West and their allies to the Afghan fighters, then called Mujahideen, proved to be the last nail in the Soviet Union’s coffin.

After 9/11, the US attack and capturing and then withdrawing its forces after20 years’ war due Doha Peace

2

Agreement left the then Afghan government at the mercy of Taliban fighters standing at the Kabul doorstep.

I have tried in this short e-book to briefly tackle the major reasons and factors for the Kabul fall and Taliban success in August, 2021.

With sure hope that this e-book will provide a very basic understanding to the readers about this country and on the region as a whole.

In the end, I am indebted to all media, both digital and non-digital, for their

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valuable information about the country and the different topics in discussion that me helped in writing this e-book.

With hope to hear positive back from your side!

Murtaza Kaleem

linkedIn.com/ murtazakaleem99

Twitter.com/ murtazakaleem99

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Chapter 1

An Introduction

The land-locked country of Afghanistan is on the junction of South Asia and Central Asia.

Being the 40th largest country in the world on the territory base, Afghanistan has a chequered history of invasions and invaders since sixth BCE. This mountainous country of the

5

Hindu Kush range has a very dry and arid climate with the exception of some pleasant scenic natural beauty to on lookers.

In case of heavy rainfall, the major rivers of Hari, Amu Darya, Kabul and Helmand burst out in floods.

The neighboring countries of Afghanistan are; 1. Pakistan lies to its south and east.

The Durand Line, the border line between Afghanistan and British

6

India was then drawn by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1895.

That’s why this border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is still referred by his name in discussion.

The length of this Durand Line is 2430

kilometers.

2. The Islamic Republic of Iran shares 597 kilometers long border with Afghanistan.

3. The former Soviet republics and present-day Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan collectively share 2305

7

kilometers long border with Afghanistan on the north.

4. While on the eastern side China-Afghanistan border length is just 92

kilometers.

With 652,846 square kilometers Afghanistan is the habitat of Pushtoons, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras ethnicities.

Pushtoon being the major ethnic group constitutes the 42 percent of Afghanistan population.

8

Chapter 2

Historical Synopsis of the Afghan land Afghanistan was given the proper shape of statehood in 1747 by the then Pushtoon King. Ahmad Shah Abdali (also known by the name of Ahmad Shah Durrani, Abdali baba or Durrani baba) after the assassination of Nadir Shah Afshar in Iran (1767).

Ahmad Shah was a commander in Nadir Shah’s Army. After his assassination Ahmad Shah was chosen as the King of Afghanistan by the Council of Elders (Loya Jirga).

9

Some 32 years before the coronation of Ahmad Shah Abdali, a Pushtoon Chieftain Mir Wais Khan Hotak overthrew the yoke of Safavid Empire by revolting and defeating the Safavid governor Gurgin Khan or Georgian Khan at Kandahar in 1710.

Mir Wais Khan Hotak declared himself the Prince of Kandahar and this independent state of Kandahar was the first prototype of Afghan state.

Mir Wais Khan Hotak died in Kandahar in November 1715.

From Mir Wais Khan Hotak (d, 1715) to the incumbent Mullah Habitullah Akhunzada (August 2021), Afghanistan

10

had 54 monarchs, kings or head of state or government.

Whatever title or system they liked and chosen for their country!

These dynasties, administrative, ruling or governing set-ups were total 14 in number (see the list of Afghans'

dynasties/monarchs and heads of state or government).

Thus, they all in their ruling-turn developed 14 ruling, governing or administrative set-ups for Afghanistan.

Changing, amending or repealing the previous one.

11

The 312 years history of Afghanistan starting from Mir Wais Khan Hotak (reigned 1709-1715) to the Kabul fall to Taliban in 2021 has so many roller coaster in its life as a nation-state that it baffles any history student were there any period of peace and tranquility in this mountainous landlocked country or not.

12

Chapter 3

Fast Forward: Afghanistan in the 20th Century

1. The second Anglo- afghan war gave Emir Sher Ali’s nephew, Abdur Rahman, to capture the Afghan throne (1880-1901).

Russian and British officials demarcated the boundaries of the present-day Afghanistan. He tried to give a new look to the Afghan society through his attempted reforms.

13

2. During Second World War, his son Emir Habibullah Khan, successfully kept the neutrality of Afghanistan despite the allurements of Central Powers and their m Mission to Kabul (1915-1916) against the Allies.

3. In the Third Anglo-Afghan War, the victorious Amanullah Khan got control over Afghan foreign affairs from the Briton in the Treaty of Rawalpindi, 1919.

4. The reaction against King Amanullah Khan’s reformations in the conservative Afghan society came in the form of Afghan Civil War (1928-1929) and his deposition from the Throne by Habibullah Kalkalani, also known by the nickname of ‘the son of a water carrier (bacha saqqa)’.

5. Habibullah Kalkalani was defeated and deposed by Nadir Khan. He declared himself the King of Afghanistan in 1929.

14

Favoring a gradual and a progressive reform of Afghan society, he stopped the rapid reformations and developments in the Afghan society.

He was assassinated by a student from Kabul as a revenge for the alleged ordering of this student’s father murder.

6. After his father murder his son Zahir Shah, aged 19, became the King of Afghanistan, for four and half decade (1937-1973). Zahir Shah political reforms and venting gave birth to political parties.

The most famous among them was the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) which had its ideological political ties with Soviet Union.

PDPA was factionalized into two main factions later on. Khalq

15

(The masses) faction was led by Nur Muhammad Tarakai while Babrak Karmal guided Parcham (the banner) faction.

7. The former Prime Minister Sardar Daud Khan seized the power when King Zahir Shah was on a medical visit to Italy in July 1973.

He abolished both the Constitution of 1964 and Monarchy and declared Afghanistan to be a Republic. He assumed the offices of the President and Prime Minister of Afghanistan simultaneously.

The promulgation of the New Afghan Constitution on February 24, 1977 and murder of Mir Akbar Khyber further added fuel to fire.

8. Hafizullah Amin along with the supporters of Khalq (the masses), a faction of PDPA launched the Saur (the Red) Revolution on 27th and 28th April 1978 by killing Sardar Daud along with all his family members. Nur Muhammad Tarakai,

16

the leader of Khalq faction, followed the steps of his predecessors by taking the offices of Afghan President and Prime Minister on 1st May 1978.

9. Nur Muhammad Tarakai was killed and his government was overthrown by his very comrade Hafizullah Amin in September 1979.

Then to assist the revolutionary government of PDPA both militarily and economically, the Soviet Red Army intervened in Afghanistan on December 27, 1979.

10. The Soviet Special Forces killed the Afghan President Hafizullah Amin in their Operation 333.

11. The Parchamite Babrak Karmal was brought by the Soviet Union back into Afghanistan after the assassination of Hafizullah Amin.

Karmal was then living in exile in

17

Czechoslovakia after his political rues with Khalqite Hafizullah Amin.

12. While the West and Carter administration in Washington was planning to settle their old score with USSR, their archrival, by assisting the Afghan rebels who were then called Afghan

Mujahedeen, both economically and militarily.

Pentagon gave 2000 Stinger missiles to Afghan Mujahedeen that ultimately broke the backbone of Soviet Air Force in Afghanistan.

13. Six million Afghan refugees took refuge in Iran and Pakistan. While another large number of Afghans went into Europe and United States.

14. The rising international pressure and the continued armed resistance of different Afghan groups

18

compelled USSR to sign the Geneva Accord (1988) for withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan by handing over power to Dr. Najibullah backed by them till 1992.

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Chapter 4

The Afghan Civil War (1989-1992) The planning and failure of Jalalabad Operation in March 1989 unleashed an era of civil war and foreign interference in Afghanistan.

The mutual mistrust and war among the warring Afghan Jihadi groups united against Soviet Red Army destroyed the social, political, and economic infrastructure of Afghanistan completely.

The two neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, tried to control and use their favorite Afghan groups

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for their interest and influence in Afghanistan.

Peshawar Seven recognized by Pakistan and its allies were seven Afghan resistance groups. They were further subdivided into two broad categories of Afghan traditionalists and Political Islamists.

Both were the followers of Sunni School of Islam, with Pushtoon being a dominant ethnic element in them.

The Four Political Islamists groups of Peshawar Seven were:

1. Hizb-i-Islami of Gulbuden Hekmatyar 2. Jamiat-i-Islami led by Burhanuddin Rabbani.

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3. Hizb-i-Islami (Khalis group) of Mohammad Younas Khalis

4. Ittehadi-i-Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf The Three Afghan Traditionalists groups of Peshawar Seven were:

1. Harkat-i-Inqilabi-Islami led by Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi

2. Jabha-i-Nejat-i-Milli guided by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi

3. Mahaz-i-Milli of Syed Ahmad Gilani While the Tehran Eight were comprised of Afghan resistance groups controlled by Iran in which Hazaras ethnicity had a majority.

They followed the Shia School of Islam.

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The Tehran Eight were:

1. Nasr Party led by Mohammad Hussian Siddiqi, Abdul Ali Mazari, and Shaikh Shafaq

2. Hezbollah Afghanistan of Qari Ahmad Ali Ghordarwazi

3. Corps of Islamic Revolution, Guardians of Afghanistan guided by Shaikh Akbari, Mokhsem Rezai, Sapake Pasdar 4. The Islamic Movement of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Asif Mohsini, and Shaikh Sadeq Hashmi

5. The Committee of Islamic Agreement led by Syed Ali Behesthi, and Syed Djagarn

6. The Islamic Revolution Movement of Nasrullah Mansoor

7. Union of Islamic Fighters guided by Mosbah Sade

8. Raad Party led Sayed Abdul Jaffar Nadri, and Sayed Ismail Balkhi

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The country plunged into continued lawlessness with no hope for common man!

Mullah Omar started the Taliban Movement in Kandahar for the protection of local people and subduing the extorting warlords.

This Taliban Movement got widespread support among the Afghan people later on.

On September 26, 1996, Taliban troops entered into Kabul City, the capital of Afghanistan, and established the ‘Emirate-i-Islami of Afghanistan.’

The opposing forces against Taliban coalesced themselves into an alliance called the United Front.

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The gluing element of theses clashing warlords was Taliban who had defeated them.

This new alliance mainly controlled the 30

percent on northern areas of Afghanistan outside of the Kabul City.

That is why it is also called ‘the Northern Alliance’.

Ahmad Shah Massoud, Rashid Dostum, Abdul Haq, Abdul Qadir, and Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai were its commanders and leaders.

After 9/11, the US and British led ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ with the support of United Front or Northern Alliance forces

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targeted Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan.

In December 2001, Taliban government in Afghanistan toppled and their remnants ran into Pakistan through the hilly porous 2640

kilometers long Pak-Afghan border.

Hamid Karzai was sworn in as the new Afghan President. His tenure of presidency (2001-2014), firstly as the interim President and then his election by the Traditional Loya Jirga (the Council of Elders) was marred by violence and fighting between Taliban guerillas and the US Army.

In 2004 the new Constitution of Afghanistan approved that called for the direct election of the president. Hamid Karzai won the direct election to the presidential office that year,

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2004. Ashraf Ghani was the second and final president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from September 2014 to August 2021.

In these twenty years open and secret negotiations were held between Taliban and US.

The Doha Peace Agreement between Taliban and the US government in February 2020

was lauded as well as criticized by all who looked into this agreement with their interests.

The unusual and rapid surrendering of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to the advancing troops of Taliban and the ultimate fall of Kabul in August 2021, shocked not only the Afghan peoples but also the

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international community as well.

The UN and other aid agencies working in Afghanistan on humanitarian basis stopped their operations on the fear bloodbath and reprisals from the invading Taliban troops.

International Community imposed sanctions Taliban due to their fear that they (Taliban) would turn the clock back into bloodthirsty era of 1990s.

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Chapter 5

United Sates Failure and Taliban Success: Alienation of Afghan People or something else?

The Political Alienation is a phenomenon in political system where individuals feel that they have no say, value or importance in their own political system.

This feeling of alienation or rejection crumbles the efficacy of that political system for individuals. This political alienation has further two sub-categories of (i) Political Incapability (ii) Political Discontent.

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The Political Incapability is the social type of political alienation which has forced by the system that is political, economic, or judicial upon the individuals who feels and thought that they are useless, and unimportant parts in this political system. And their presence or absence have no effect on them.

On the other hand, the Political Discontent is the deliberate, and intentional alienation of an individual from the political system and political participation. The feeling that their skills, knowledge, experience or expertise in any field of life have no value or place for them in their society. The more opportunists and incompetents are trampling them.

Hence, there grows a negative and sense of disillusionment about their society in individuals!

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These two main categories of political alienation found their expressions generally in the following five ways;

 The Feeling of Powerlessness. The feeling that I have no share and importance the governmental decisions.

 The Political Meaninglessness.

The impression that government and its decisions, structure and politicians etc. are all unpredictable and ambiguous. With no value and clarity for individuals.

 The Political Normalcy. The reactivity to political values and norms used as a benchmark for measuring political behavior and system are of no use. This dilapidated building should be demolished as soon as possible.

 The Feeling of Rejection and

Isolationism. Those values which ae

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held in high esteem by society are unacceptable and destructive. Thus an individual goes more and more into a sense of isolationism and rejection.

 The Feeling of Political

Disillusionment. The resentment that both government and political elites are morally and financially corrupt.

They have destroyed the ideals of politics for their own interests.

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Chapter 6

This was the case in Afghanistan?

Yes. To major extent these alienating factors were the contributing factors in the success of Taliban and failure of United States in Afghanistan.

Soon after 9/11. US attacked on Afghanistan and the Taliban government collapsed in December 2001.

An interim setup was decided in the Bonn Conference, 2001. Hamid Karzai administration, being himself a Pushtoon, was dominated and controlled by the Northern Alliance.

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Pushtoon and Pushtoon tribes were targeted and segregated for their ethnicity after the fall of Taliban in whom Pushtoon was the major ethnic group.

With the 40 percent population of Afghanistan, Pushtoon is the major ethnicity of this land.

The fighting in Afghanistan between US and its allies and Taliban mainly fought in the areas dominated by Pushtoons.

Of course, they also formed a lion share of Taliban fighters fighting against US and NATO.

Though time and again Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani governments were blamed for

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their Pushtoon favoritism as was the case of a leaked memo in 2014 for favoring the employment of Pushtoon candidates.

However, Pushtoon majority felt that they were being marginalized and pointed out on the basis of their ethnicity.

Overall Afghan people believed that they are powerless and that their Afghan government and the US are ruling them from atop having no links to them nor they could they be approached.

It was this alienation of Afghans, their denial from this system that dished out Kabul to Taliban in August 2021, without any trouble.

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Chapter 7

Taliban Strategy for Kabul Fall Taliban strategy for Kabul fall in August 2021 tacitly involved intermingling of social, political, economic, and military steps.

1. Division between Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan people.

Taliban isolated the Afghan National Army (ANA) from two dimensions that knowingly or unknowingly lost its sharpness to fight with Taliban fighters in the two decade war.

The Military-Isolationism as defined the US Army involves two steps.

The first one is psychological isolationism while the second one is its operational isolationism.

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The psychological dimension involves views when a fighting force feels that it is not supported by its own people nor its sacrifices are appreciated by them.

They are fighting a battle sure to be lost!

In December 2001, When US captured Kabul, its main strategy was to maintain and normalize the Afghan land through the labyrinth of check points and boots on the ground with air support.

Initially successful this strategy greatly out-strained capacity of both Afghan government and Army in holding these check points and troops throughout Afghanistan especially in the restive areas.

This gave a cutting edge to Taliban in isolating the Afghan Army from their main military and operational support bases.

A tactic similar to Borodino battle!

In the Doha Peace Agreement (2020), the US got assurance that Taliban

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henceforth would not attack the US or Afghan forces.

This lull of 18 months from February 2020 to August 2021 gave Taliban a respite to work on this strategy of isolationism for the Kabul fall.

2. The Two Ts, Threats and Texts We have no idea whether Taliban strategists have read The Art of War or not but they were superbly using Sun Tzu technique of propaganda to weaken the fighting spirit of enemy, if it could not be wither away fully by them.

Threats on social media and influencing the low rank of Army commanders by local tribe chiefs or through their own family members forbidding them to fight against Taliban greatly eroded the fighting spirt of the Afghan Army and its rank and

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file. Thus, in person or campaigning via social media were the developed and advanced tactics of Taliban 2.0 in 21st century to which there previous version Taliban 1.0 were not familiar nor did they think about it.

3. The Knock-Out Strategy Taliban adopted the strategy of invisible war against their enemy, the US and Afghan governments.

The conventional hit-and-run, IEDs and ambushing was replaced their knock-out strategy, of killing the social activists, the technical and military experts for crippling the Afghan government credibility before the very eyes of the Afghan people.

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Taliban successfully used the covert planning, networking, and execution of these assassinations, abducting, and terrorizing for their cause.

4. Locking the Adversary by Negotiations War is the continuation of politics and Taliban were the best practitioner of this dictum in their negotiations with the US

government.

The bilateral negotiations, both open and secret, of Taliban and Donald Trump administration putting aside the then Ashraf Ghani government was a blemish on its credibility and stability for the Afghan people.

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This peace process and the resultant Doha Agreement (2020) was indeed a blessing in disguise for Taliban who after peace agreement reorganized and strengthened themselves by capturing the key locations and points for the finale of August 2021.

5. The Afghan War of Liberation, not the Taliban Insurgency

The old version of Taliban, that is Taliban 1.0, were mainly Pushtoons who were considered by their own compatriots against them.

The religious and ethnic minorities of Afghanistan considered these Taliban 1.0

to be their enemy who were trying to subjugate them in the name of religion, Islam.

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The Taliban 2.0 took a dramatic shift from this old strategy.

They included, invested as well as recruited from other Afghan ethnicities to bolster up their rank and file.

This sway from ‘ Pushtoon Taliban’ to ‘We all Afghans’ was very fruitful for them.

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Chapter 8

US failures in Afghanistan: Strategically, Politically, and Economically

 Successful but finally failed regime-change in Kabul

The toppling of the Afghan government in Kabul plus with destroying of the al-Qaeda nexus with them by the US after 9/11 was not very auspicious for them.

It was a two decade long nightmare for the United States. Their assumption that after Taliban fall all other Afghan groups who abhorred Taliban would join them in their initiative of rebuilding and

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restructuring of Afghan land anew. But the end result was not something US

desired.

Imposed but lacking the legitimacy in the very minds of people, the US government was too much costing on the Afghan government both militarily and economically.

Thus, spoon-fed and stunted Afghan government could not muster strength even in twenty years for themselves.

 US failure to control and organize conditions for their success This was the most drawback in the US

policy in Afghanistan. The US

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policymakers could not smoothly control the conditions in Afghanistan for themselves.

The hide-and-seek policy of all neighboring countries of Afghanistan limited the success chances of United States in this land.

Iran, Pakistan, Central Asian countries, Russia, China, and India were putting and moving their pawns cautiously on the Afghan chessboard.

Their running with hares and hunting with hounds negatively impacted the success chances of both Afghan and the US governments in Afghanistan.

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When the US-Taliban peace talks stared back in 2018, much of time and leverage had already spilt from the Washington.

The ethnic rivalry of Afghan people, the massive corruption of Afghan government, and its’ near absent or least institutionalized presence and zero economic growth were some of the serious shortcomings that could easily be overcome by the rapid American financing and Quick-Infrastructural developments.

The remedial measures for this would have to be grown from the very soil of Afghanistan.

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The grafting and implanting does grow only in climes that ae suitable for them!

 The only thing I know that I know nothing, Socrates

The lack of proper information about Afghans and Afghanistan by the Americans were marring their success chances in this land.

The continued trial and error strategy for two decades were a waste of time, energy and resources leading them to nowhere.

Even the US policymakers had an understanding of this scenario that

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bubbling Afghan government could not survive and that this balloon could easily be pricked by Taliban.

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Chapter 9

Capping the Discussion The rule and management of multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Afghan land had always been a daunting task for the Afghan rulers.

Emir Abdur Rahman, the Lion Emir, used the traditional rivalries of these ethnicities and cultures to stabilize and control Afghanistan for himself.

Pushtoons tribes traditionally living in the south and south-eastern Afghanistan were enticed by this Lion Emir to settle in the north and north-eastern Afghanistan, the habitat of

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Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras with many economic social, and political blessings for them as a reward for their settlement in this non-Pushtoon belt.

The sole aim was to balance and control these non-Pushtoons areas by Pushtoon tribes and bringing out a favorable demographic change for the Kabul rulers albeit at the economic and political cost of other Afghans’ racial and religious minorities.

This policy of resettlement and relocation continued till the end of monarchy in 1973.

This Pushtoon hegemony briefly came to an end when a non-Pushtoon, Babrak Karmal, a Tajik, came to power.

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Taliban, a Pushtoon dominated religious group, took again control of Kabul in 1996.

However, after 9/11, Hamid Karzai and then Ashraf Ghani governments had a high presence of non-Pushtoons of the United Front or the Northern Alliance.

This isolation of Pushtoons helped Taliban in swelling their support from other ethnicities and uniting them for

‘the Afghan Liberation War’.

The economic downfall for the Afghan people after Kabul fall in 2021 was too much severe.

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The falling per capita income, the international aid stoppage, the banking and investment loss is the heavy price Afghan people have to pay.

The World Bank estimation is the further contraction of Afghan economy in the coming years due to political, economic, and ideological tussles with the outside world.

The only silver lining to all this bleakness is the revival of agriculture, agro-based business, exploring and exploiting the natural resources of the country.

Enhancing and developing the already existing border-trade with neighboring could boost up the Afghan economy.

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The extension of TAPI project, China’s BRI and CPEC projects to Afghanistan would engage Taliban diplomatically and economically which could be beneficial both for Afghanistan and the region as whole.

The give-and-take policy by two sides, Taliban and the international community, is the only solution for building up mutual trust and peace.

Any unclear and hazy move by either by Taliban or by neighboring countries or by the World powers will again reignite the inferno!

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Chapter 10

List of Afghans’ Monarchs, Kings, Heads of State and Government

1. The Hotak Dynasty (1709-1738) No

Name

Reigning Period

1

Mir Wais Khan Hotak

1709-1715

(1673-1705)

2

Abdul Aziz Hotak

1715-1717

(died, 1707)

3

Mahmud Hotak (1697- 1717-1725

1725)

4

Ashraf Hotak (died,

1725-1730

1730)

5

Hussian Hotak (died,

1730-1738

1738)

2. The Durrani Dynasty (1747-1823) No

Name

Reigning Period

1

Ahmad Shah (1720-1772)

1747-1772

2

Taimor Shah (1746-1793)

1772-1793

3

Zaman Shah (1730-1844)

!793-1801

4

Mahmud Shah (1769-1829), 1st 1801-1803

reign

5

Shah Shujah (1785-1842)

1803-1809

6

Mahmud Shah,

1809-1818

(1769-1829), 2nd reign

7

Ali Shah (details unavailable) 1818-1819

8

Ayub Shah (died, 1837)

1819-1830

3. The Emirate of Kabul/Afghanistan (1823-1926)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Sultan Mohamad Khan,

1826-1839

(1792-1834)

2

Dost Mohamad Khan, 1st

1826-1839

reign, (1792-1863)

3

Shah Shujah Durrani, 2nd 1839-1842

reign, (1785-1842)

4

Akbar Khan (1816-1847)

1842-1843

5

Dost Mohamad Khan, 2nd

1843-1863

reign, (1792-1863)

6

Sher Ali Khan(1825-1879) 1863-1866

7

Mohamad Afzal Khan

1866-1867

(1815-1867)

8

Mohamad Azam Khan

1867-1868

(1820-1870)

9

Sher Ali Khan, 2nd reign, 1868-1879

(1825-1879)

10

Mohamad Yaqub Khan,

Feb !879-Oct 1879

(1849-1923)

11

Ayub Khan (1857-1914)

1879-1880

12

Abdur Rahman Khan

1880-1901

(1840/44-1901)

13

Habibullah Khan (1872-

1901-1919

1919)

14

Nasrullah Khan (1874-

Feb 1919 (8 days only)

1920)

15

Amanullah Khan (1892-

1919-1926

1960)

4. Kingdom of Afghanistan (1926-1929)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Amanullah Khan

1926-1929

(1892-1960)

2

Inayatullah Khan

Jan 1929 (3 days only)

(1888-1946)

5. The Saqqawist Empire and the Civil War of 1928-1929

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Habib Ullah Kalkalani

From January to

(1891-1929)

October 1929

2

Ali Ahmed Khan (1893-

From January to

1929)

February 1929

3

Amanullah Khan (1892-

From March to

1960)

May 1929

6. The Restored Kingdom of Afghanistan (1929-1973)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Mohammad Nadir

1929-1933

Shah (1883-1933)

2

Mohammad Zahir

1933-1973

Shah (1914-2007)

7. Local Monarchs seizing the opportunities in the internal conflicts

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Jehandad Khan (died,

May 1912

1914)

only

2

Abdul Karim (1897-1927)

1924-1925

3

Salemai (no information

1944-1946

available)

8. Non-Monarchs, The Republic of Afghanistan (1973-1978)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Mohammad Daud

1973-1978

Khan (1909-1978)

9. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1992)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Colonel Abdul Qadir

April, 1978. Only for 2

(1944-2014)

days

2

Nur Mohammad

April. 1978 to

Tarakai (1917-1979)

September,1979

3

Hafiz Ullah Amin

From September to

(1929-1979)

December, 1979

4

Babrak Karmal (1929-

1979-1996

1996)

5

Haji Mohammad

November, 1986 to

Chamkani (1947-2012)

September, 1987

6

Mohammad Najib

1987-1992

Ullah (1947-1996)

7

Abdur Rahim Hatif

April, 1992. Only for 12

(1926-2013)

days

10. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (1992-2022)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Sibghat Ullah Mojaddei From April to June, (1926-2019)

1992

2

Burhanuddin Rabbani

1992-2001

(1940-2011)

3

Hamid Karzai (born,

December,2001 to July,

1957)

2002

11. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996-2001)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Mullah Mohammad

1996-2001

Omar (died, 2013)

12. The Transitional State of Afghanistan (2002-2004)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Hamid Karzai ( born,

2002-2004

1957)

13. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004-2021)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Hamid Karzai (born, 1957) 2004-2014

2

Ashraf Ghani (born, 1949) From September, 2014 to August, 2021

14. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (present)

No

Name

Reigning period

1

Mullah Haybat Ullah

Incumbent. From August,

Akhunzada (born,1961)

2021

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