Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: غازی امان الله خان; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919 until his abdication in 1929, first as Emir and after 1926 as King. After the August 1919 end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Afghanistan was able to relinquish its protected state status to proclaim independence and pursue an independent foreign policy free from the influence of the United Kingdom.
His rule was marked by dramatic political and social change, attempting to modernize Afghanistan on Western designs, which he did not fully succeed in, due to an uprising by Habibullah Kalakani and his followers. On 14 January 1929, Amanullah abdicated and fled to neighboring British India as the Afghan Civil War began to escalate. From British India, he went to Europe, where after 30 years in exile, he died in Italy, in 1960 (yet apparently and reportedly according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Amanullah died in Zürich in Switzerland). His body was brought to Afghanistan and buried in Jalalabad near his father Habibullah Khan tomb.
Amanullah Khan was born on 1 June 1892, in Paghman near Kabul, Afghanistan. He was the favored and the third son of the Emir Habibullah Khan. Amanullah was installed as the governor of Kabul, and was in control of the army and the treasury. He gained the allegiance of most of the tribal leaders.
In February 1919, Emir Habibullah Khan went on a hunting trip to Afghanistan’s Laghman Province. Among those in his retinue were Nasrullah Khan, Habibullah’s first son Inayatullah, and Habibullah’s commander-in-chief Nadir Khan. On the evening of February 20, 1919, Habibullah was assassinated while in his tent by Shuja ul-Dawla, one of the pages who slept in his tent on orders from his younger son, Amanullah, leaving Nasrullah the heir successor to the Afghan throne. Nasrullah at first refused to take the throne and declared his allegiance to Inayatullah, Habibullah’s first born. Inayatullah refused and said that his father had made Nasrullah the heir rightfully and wanted him to become Emir. All the local tribes people also gave their allegiance to Nasrullah, who was a pious and religious man.
The remainder of Habibullah’s party journeyed south-east to Jalalabad, and on February 21, 1919, reached that city, whereupon Nasrullah was declared Emir, supported by Habibullah’s first son Inayatullah.
Upon receiving the news, Amanullah Khan, third son of Habibullah by Habibullah’s first wife, had remained in Kabul as the king’s representative. Using this opportunity, he immediately seized control of the treasury at Kabul and staged a coup against his uncle. He took control of Kabul and the central government, declaring war against Nasrullah. Nasrullah did not want any blood shed in order for him to be king. He told Amanullah that he can have the kingdom, and he will take exile in Saudi Arabia. Amanullah Khan swore upon the Quran that no harm would come to Nasrullah if he returned to Kabul and then he can do as he pleased. Fearing that Nasrullah’s supporters would rise against Amanullah, he went against his word and imprisoned Nasrullah and his supporters. On February 28, 1919, Amanullah proclaimed himself Emir, and on March 3, 1919, Nasrullah was arrested by Amanullah’s forces.
On April 13, 1919, Amanullah held a Durbar (a royal court under the supervision of Amanullah) in Kabul which inquired into the death of Habibullah. It found a colonel in the Afghanistan military guilty of the crime, and had him executed. On manufactured evidence, it found Nasrullah complicit in the assassination.He imprisoned Nasrullah to life imprisonment and had him assassinated approximately one year later while in the royal jail.
Russia had recently undergone its Communist revolution leading to strained relations between the country and the United Kingdom. Amanullah Khan recognized the opportunity to use the situation to gain Afghanistan’s independence over its foreign affairs. He led a surprise attack against the British in India on 3 May 1919, beginning the Third Anglo-Afghan war. After initial successes, the war quickly became a stalemate as the United Kingdom was still dealing with the costs of World War I. An armistice was reached towards the end of 1919, and Afghanistan was completely free of British diplomatic influence.