Mohammed Nadir Shah

Origins and rise to power

Mohammed Nadir first set foot in Afghanistan at the age of 18 when his grandfather Mohammed Yahya was authorized to return to Afghanistan from exile by the British and Abdur Rahman Khan.

Nadir Khan became a general under Amanullah Khan. He led Afghan forces in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. After the war, Nadir was made Minister of War and Afghan ambassador to France.

Shortly after a rebellion by Pashtun tribesmen and forces of Habibullah Kalakani began against the monarchy, Mohammad Nadir was exiled due to disagreements with King Amanullah. After the overthrow of Amanullah Khan's monarchy by Habibullah Kalakani, Mohammed Nadir returned to India and acquired military support from the British. He returned to Afghanistan with his British supported armies and took most of Afghanistan from Habibullah Kalakani. By October 13 of 1929, Mohammad Nadir Khan captured Kabul and subsequently sacked the city. Nadir Shah then asked for a truce with Habibullah Kalakani and asked him to join him so that they could discuss the political upheavals and come to a resolution. Kalakani accepted Mohammed Nadir's truce and went to Nadir's meeting accompanied by Nadir's religious envoy. He forged commercial links with the same foreign powers that Amanullah had established diplomatic relations with in the 1920s, and, under the leadership of several prominent entrepreneurs, he initiated a banking system and long-range economic planning. Although his efforts to improve the army did not bear fruit immediately, by the time of his death in 1933 Nadir Shah had created a 40,000-strong force from almost no national army at all.

He waged a large scale campaign under British influence against the non-Pashtun ethnic living in Afghanistan in attempt to continue the Pashtunization plan of his predecessor Abdur Rahman Khan. During his reign thousands of Afghan intellectuals were either imprisoned or killed. Many fled abroad, especially to the Soviet Union. The already-in-crisis press was heavily censored and power was distributed among his own relatives and family members.

During his reign, Nadir Shah had to suppress attempts to reinstate Amanullah Khan to the throne. His strategy in suppressing his opposition was to set ethnic groups against each other, mainly Pashtuns versus Tajiks. This led to the destruction of the Shamali plains north of Kabul.

Assassination

Criticism