HomeNationsAfghanistanRulers: 1880-1973

Afghanistan: Rulers: 1880-1973

Ruling House: Durrānī - Muḥammadzāʾī (درانی - محمدزائی) ‎[except for Ḥabīb Allāh Ghāzī]
Pādshāh (پادشاه), Pādshāh-i Afghānistān (پادشاه افغانستان) [1]
20 Jul 1880 - 3 Oct 1901 Amīr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khān (امیر عبد الرحمن خان) [2][3]
  honorific title: Z̤īyāʾ al-Millat wa-al-Dīn (ضیاء الملة والدین) [1896]
   
3 Oct 1901 - 20 Feb 1919 Amīr Ḥabīb Allāh Khān (امیر حبیب الله خان)
  honorific title: Sirāj al-Millat wa-al-Dīn (سراج الملة والدین)
   
20 Feb 1919 - 27 Feb 1919 Amīr Naṣr Allāh Khān (امیر نصر الله خان) [4]
   
21 Feb 1919 - 14 Jan 1929 Amīr Amān Allāh Khān Ghāzī (امیر امان الله خان غازی) [5]
   
14 Jan 1929 - 17 Jan 1929 Amīr ʿInāyat Allāh Khān (امیر عنایت الله خان) [6]
   
14 Dec 1928 - 13 Oct 1929 Amīr Ḥabīb Allāh Ghāzī (امیر حبیب الله غازی) [7][8]
  honorific title: Khādim-i Dīn-i Rasūl Allāh (خادم دین رسول الله)
 
15 Oct 1929 - 8 Nov 1933 Muḥammad Nādir Shāh (محمد نادر شاه)
  honorific title (posthumous): Shāh-i Shahīd (شاه شهید)
   
8 Nov 1933 - 17 Jul 1973 Muḥammad Ẓāhir Shāh (محمد ظاهر شاه)
  honorific title: al-Mutawakkil ʿalá Allāh (المتوکل على الله)

[1] Amīr was the personal title of the ruling chief among the descendents of Dūst Muḥammad Khān in the male line (1880-1929). Additional information on official titles is in a Note.
[2] Proclaimed at a public assembly in Charikar, near Kabul, on 20 Jul 1880; recognized as "amir of Kabul" in absentia by the government of the United Kingdom at a public meeting in the Sherpur Cantonment, then near Kabul on 22 Jul 1880; control of Kabul is handed over from the British military administration to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khān at an informal ceremony near the Sherpur Cantonment on 11 Aug 1880.
[3] Pādshāh (پادشاه) (in dissidence in Afghan Turkistan)
  Aug? 1888 - Sep 1888 Amīr Muḥammad Isḥāq Khān (امیر محمد اسحاق خان)
[4] Recognized as ruler at a meeting of notables in Jalalabad on 20 Feb 1919 and publicly proclaimed on 21 Feb 1919; abdicated on 27 Feb 1919.
[5] Recognized as ruler at a meeting of notables in Kabul on 21 Feb 1919.
[6] Succeeded to the throne following the abdication of Amān Allāh Khān and was publicly proclaimed in Kabul on 14 Jan 1929. On the same day he was besieged in the citadel (Arg) of Kabul by the forces of Ḥabīb Allāh, staying there until his abdication on 17 Jan 1929.
[7] Recognized as ruler at a meeting outside Kabul on 14 Dec 1928 and publicly proclaimed in Kabul on 16 Jan 1929.
[8] Pādshāh (پادشاه) (in dissidence)
  c. 23 Jan 1929 - 28 Feb 1929 Amīr ʿAlī Aḥmad Khān (امیر علی احمد خان)
  Jan 1929 - 23 May 1929 Amīr Amān Allāh Khān (امیر امان الله خان) 
  23 May 1929 - 1 Jun 1929 Amīr ʿAlī Aḥmad Khān (امیر علی احمد خان)