The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Afghanistan. It was proclaimed by its first

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...

, seven years after he acceded to the throne. The monarchy ended in the 1973 Afghan coup d'état.

History

Emir Amanullah Khan was keen on modernizing Afghanistan, provoking several uprisings led by his conservative opponents. One such rebellion broke out while he was visiting Europe in 1927. He abdicated in favour of his brother

Inayatullah Khan Inayatullah Khan (Pashto/Dari: ), (20 October 1888 – 12 August 1946) was the King of Afghanistan for three days in January 1929. He was the son of former Afghan Emir, Habibullah Khan. Inayatullah's brief reign ended with his abdication. I ...

, who only ruled for three days before the leader of the rebellion Habibullāh Kalakāni took power and reinstated the Emirate. After 10 months, Amanullah Khan's Minister of War, Mohammed Nadir, returned from exile in India. His British-supported armies sacked Kabul, forcing Kalakāni to discuss a truce. Instead, Mohammed Nadir's forces apprehended and subsequently executed Kalakāni. Mohammed Nadir reinstated the kingdom, was proclaimed King of Afghanistan as

Mohammed Nadir Shah Mohammed Nadir Shah ( Persian and ps, محمد نادر شاه – born Mohammed Nadir Khan; 9 April 1883 – 8 November 1933) was King of Afghanistan from 15 October 1929 until his assassination in November 1933. Previously, he served as Mini ...

in October 1929, and went on to revert the reformist path of the last king, Amanullah Khan. He was succeeded by his son, Mohammed Zahir Shah, whose rule started in 1933 and lasted for 39 years. Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan, was eventually overthrown by his own cousin

Mohammed Daoud Khan Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan cou ...

who successfully ended the centuries-old monarchy and established a

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. It was under the leadership of Zahir Shah that the Afghan government sought relationships with the outside world, most notably with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, France, Great Britain, and the United States. On 27 September 1934, during the reign of Zahir Shah, the Kingdom of Afghanistan joined the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Afghanistan remained neutral and pursued a diplomatic policy of non-alignment. Though being neutral in World War II, Afghanistan had relations with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, but that was severed after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. Afghanistan was admitted into the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

on 29 August 1946. In 1947, Afghanistan was the only United Nations member to vote against admitting

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

into the United Nations. This was mostly done because of Kingdom's call for

Pashtunistan Pashtunistan ( ps, پښتونستان, lit=land of the Pashtuns) is a historical region in Central Asia and South Asia, inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, ...

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

visited the capital of Kabul and endorsed the Afghan claims to Pashtunistan in 1955. Afghanistan also became a member of the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath ...

in 1961. Daoud Khan, Prime Minister of Afghanistan at the time, worked hard for the development of modern industries, and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in the country. In July 1973, Daoud Khan staged a bloodless ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

'' while Zahir Shah was not in the country. The next month, Zahir Shah abdicated, hoping to avoid a civil war, which officially marked the end of the Kingdom of Afghanistan and the beginning of the Republic.

Geography

The Kingdom of Afghanistan bordered

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

on the west, the

in the north,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

on the east, and

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

on the south. The mountainous and mostly dry country was . The strange shape and borders of the country, most notably the Wakhan Corridor, were a result of its former role as a buffer state between

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Snow was common in most areas during winter and rainfall was small.

Demographics

The country was made up of various ethnic groups such as the

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

Tajiks Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Taj ...

Hazaras The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scat ...

, Uzbeks and many others. The majority of Afghans were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, approximate 99% of the population. Around 90% of the Muslim population were

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...

, the rest were

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

. Dari (Persian) and

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

were the official languages of the nation. Many Afghans were bilingual and could speak both languages between each other.

Economy

Like the past and present-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

, the economy relied greatly on agriculture and mining. The United States and the Soviet Union both invested in neutral Afghanistan's economy to try to gain influence during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. This included the Four Point Program in 1951, when Afghanistan and the United States signed an agreement in Kabul to help assist the economic development in the economy, and the construction of a 100 km pipeline from Termez to

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

that was built by Soviet technicians and began in 1954. Afghanistan received $18,500,000 from the

Export–Import Bank of the United States The Export–Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is the official export credit agency (ECA) of the United States federal government. Operating as a wholly owned federal government corporation, the bank "assists in financing and facilitati ...

to help them purchase U.S. material, equipment, and services for the Helmand River valley developmental project. In August 1961, Pakistan closed the border with Afghanistan, due to Prime Minister, Daoud Khan's strong stance on

, but it re-opened in May after Khan's resignation. The country had deposits of talc, mica, silver, lead, beryl, chromite, copper, lapis lazuli, and iron ore.

Military

King Zahir Shah's cousin, Daoud Khan, signed a $3 million arms deal with the

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ČSSR, formerly known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic or Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 to 29 March 1990, when it was renamed the Czechoslovak ...

and a 32.5 million arms deal with the

in 1956. The deal gave the Afghan military imported T-34 tanks and MiG-17 jet fighters. A quarter to third of all Afghan officers had trained in the Soviet Union by 1973.