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, an Afg̲h̲ān tribe known as Abdālī until their name was changed by Aḥmed S̲h̲āh Durrānī. (See abdālī , aḥmad s̲h̲āh , afg̲h̲ānistān ). The tribe was moved from Harāt and granted lands in the region of Ḳandahar by Nadir S̲h̲āh. At This time they were pastoral nomads but in the later 12th/18th century they began to take up agriculture. Their large financial and economic privileges were continued and extended in the reigns of Aḥmad S̲h̲āh and Tīmūr S̲h̲āh, when the Durrānī tribe formed the main pol…

, Amīr of Afg̲h̲ānistan and the successor and third son of Habīb Allāh [ q.v.] by his chief wife, ʿUlyā Ḥaḍrat (d. 1965). He was born on 2 June 1892 in Pag̲h̲mān and educated at the Military Academy. Intelligent, energetic and hardworking, he was attracted to the nationalist and Islamic modernist ideas of Maḥmūd Ṭarzī (1866-1935), the editor of Sirād̲j̲ al-ak̲h̲bār , and in 1914 married Ṭarzī’s daughter, Soraya (T̲h̲urayyā) (d. 21 April 1968). At the time of his father’s murder on 20 February 1919, Amān Allāh, as Governor of Kābul, c…

(1909-78) first president of Afg̲h̲ānistān. His father was Sardār Muḥammad ʿAzīz, the half-brother of Muḥammad Nādir S̲h̲āh. Dāwūd was educated at Amāniyya School, Kābul, and in France. In 1931 he entered the army, was created major-general in 1932 and from then until 1947 held various military commands and provincial governorships. In 1947 he became minister of defence in the government of his uncle, S̲h̲āh Maḥmūd, resigned and returned as minister of the interior, 1949-50. From 20 September 1953 un…

, the real founder of Bārakzāy rule in Afg̲h̲ānistān, was the 20th son of Pāyinda K̲h̲ān, chief of the Bārakzāy clan under Tīmūr S̲h̲āh. After the execution of Pāyinda K̲h̲ān in the reign of Zamān S̲h̲āh, Dust Muḥammad was brought up by his Ḳi̊zi̊lbas̲h̲ mother’s relatives until he came under the care of the eldest brother, Fatḥ K̲h̲ān, who held considerable influence under Maḥmūd S̲h̲āh. In the second reign of Maḥmūd, Dūst Muḥammad held prominent offices including that of governor of Kūhistān, …