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This article lists the
heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...
of
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 bordere ...
since the foundation of the first modern
Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
state, the
Hotak Empire The Hotak dynasty ( ps, fa, ) was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful revolution against t ...
, in 1709.


History

The Hotak Empire was formed after a successful uprising led by
Mirwais Hotak Mir Ways ibn Shah 'Alam, also known as Mirwais Khan Hotak (Pashto/Dari: ) (1673–1715) was an Afghan ruler from the Ghilji tribe of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and the founder of the Hotak dynasty. In 1709, after overthrowing and assassinating Geo ...
and other Afghan tribal chiefs from the
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
against Mughal and Safavid Persian rule. After a long series of wars, the Hotak Empire was eventually replaced by the
Durrani The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan ( Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but ...
Afghan Empire, founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747. After the collapse of the Durrani Empire in 1823, the
Barakzai dynasty The two branches of the Barakzai dynasty (, "sons of Barak") ruled modern day Afghanistan from 1823 to 1973 when the monarchy ended under Musahiban Mohammed Zahir Shah. The Barakzai dynasty was established by Dost Mohammad Khan after the Dur ...
founded the Emirate of Kabul, later known as the Emirate of Afghanistan. The Durrani dynasty regained power in 1839, during the
First Anglo-Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession d ...
, when former ruler
Shah Shujah Durrani ''Padshah Sultan'' Shah Shuja Durrani (Pashto/Dari: ; November 1785 – 5 April 1842) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1803 to 1809. He then ruled from 1839 until his death in 1842. Son of Timur Shah Durrani, Shuja Shah was of the Sadduzai ...
seized the throne under the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
auspices. Shah Shujah was assassinated in 1842, following the British retreat. Afterwards the Barakzai dynasty regained power, eventually transformed the Emirate into the
Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of A ...
in 1926, and ruled the country (with an interruption in 1929) until the last king,
Mohammed Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan ...
, was deposed in the 1973 coup d'état, led by his first 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 coup ...
. Despite being part of the Barakzai dynasty, Daoud Khan departed from tradition and did not proclaim himself ''
Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
'', instead abolished the monarchy and established the
Republic of Afghanistan 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 c ...
, with himself as
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
. The Republic lasted until the PDPA–led Saur Revolution in 1978. Since 1978, Afghanistan has been in a state of continuous internal conflict and foreign interventions. President
Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
became the first ever democratically elected head of state of Afghanistan on 7 December 2004. His successor,
Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in ...
, was in power from 29 September 2014 to 15 August 2021, when he fled the country as Kabul fell to the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
following its 2021 offensive. Upon its recapture of Kabul, the Taliban reinstated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and its supreme leader since 2016, Islamic scholar
Hibatullah Akhundzada Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Islamic scholar, cleric, and jurist who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and came to power with its victory over Western-backe ...
, ''de facto'' succeeded Ghani as head of state. * * *


List of heads of state

(Dates in italics indicate ''de facto'' continuation of office)


Monarchs

Hotak Empire The Hotak dynasty ( ps, fa, ) was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful revolution against t ...
(1709–1738) Durrani Empire (1747–1823) Emirate of Kabul / Emirate of Afghanistan (1823–1926)
Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of A ...
(1926–1929) Saqqawist Emirate and the 1928–1929 civil war
Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of A ...
(restored; 1929–1973)


Local monarchs

Some rulers tried to take advantage of internal conflicts in Afghanistan to claim the throne. However, their rule was limited only to certain areas.


Non-monarchs


Family tree of monarchs


Timeline from 1880


Standards of heads of state

File:Royal Standard of the King of Afghanistan (1931–1973).svg, Standard of the King of Afghanistan, 1931–1973. File:Flag of Afghanistan (1974–1978) (Variant).svg, Standard of the President of Afghanistan, 1974–1978. File:Standard of the President of Afghanistan (2004-2013).svg, Standard of the President of Afghanistan, 2004–2013. File:Standard of the President of Afghanistan.svg, Standard of the President of Afghanistan, 2013–2021.


See also

*
President of Afghanistan The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as th ...
*
Supreme Leader of Afghanistan The supreme leader of Afghanistan ( ps, د افغانستان مشر, Də Afġānistān Damshīr, prs, رهبر افغانستان, Rahbar-e Afghānistān), officially the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, prs, رهبر ا ...
*
Prime Minister of Afghanistan The prime minister of Afghanistan ( ps, د افغانستان لومړی وزیر; prs, رئیس‌الوزرای افغانستان) is the head of government of Afghanistan. The position was created in 1927 as an official appointed by the Ki ...
* Chief Executive (Afghanistan) * Politics of Afghanistan *
History of Afghanistan The history of Afghanistan as a state began in 1823 as the Emirate of Afghanistan after the exile of the Sadozai monarchy to Herat. The Sadozai monarchy ruled the Afghan Durrani Empire, considered the founding state of modern Afghanistan. T ...
*
List of Pashtun empires and dynasties The following is an incomplete list of Pashtun or Afghan empires and dynasties. It includes states, princely states, empires and dynasties in the region of Central and South Asia which were founded by rulers of Pashtun ancestry. The Pashtuns, ...
*
Name of Afghanistan The name Afghānistān ( fa, افغانستان, ''Afġānestān'' ; ps, افغانستان ''Afġānistān'' ) means "land of the Afghans", which originates from the ethnonym ''Afghan''. Historically, the name ''Afghan'' mainly designated Pasht ...
*
Afghan (ethnonym) The ethnonym Afghan ( Persian/Pashto: ) has been used historically to refers to members of the Pashtuns. However, since the second half of the twentieth century, the term "Afghan" is also used to refer to any native or inhabitant of Afghanist ...


Notes


References


External links


Presidency of Afghanistan (15 August 2021 archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Heads Of State Of Afghanistan
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 bordere ...
* * *
Heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...
Heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...
Heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...