Abdullah Qazi
Last Updated: 2001
Amanullah Khan was crowned the Amir of Afghanistan after his father, Amir Habibullah was assassinated in February 1919. Amanullah Khan was fiercely anti-British and wanted to destroy an old agreement which gave the British control over Afghanistan’s foreign policy. The British resisted this move, and so began the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919). After a brief struggle, the British were forced to negotiate and in the end surrendered their control over Afghanistan’s foreign policy.
Afterwards, Amanullah became a national hero, and was given the tile Ghazi. He then turned his attention to modernizing Afghanistan. He changed his title from Amir to Padshah (King) in 1926. King Amanullah’s modernization plans were not greeted so warmly by everyone in Afghanistan, and as result, many tribes revolted. In the end, the revolt caused Amanullah Khan the throne. He left Afghanistan and lived in exile in Italy and Switzerland. He died in 1960, and was buried in Jalalabad, near his father’s tomb.
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