ABSTRACT
This chapter covers two centuries of Afghanistan’s well-documented history, from the start of the reign of Timur Shah in 1773 to the end of the monarchy in 1973. My aim is not to present a detailed historical account, but to look at themes relevant to my argument, although in doing so an account of Afghan history is inevitable. Afghanistan, during its first one and a half centuries fits into the description of a segmentary state. It is only after the 1880s that it begins to turn into a ‘unitary state’. Attempts in the 1960s to turn it into a modern constitutional ‘nation-state’ backfired, leading to the emergence of ethnic nationalists bent on secession (discussed in Chapters 7-8). Three main themes can be identified to account for two centuries of the Afghan monarchy:
1 The fragility of the state (especially in the first century and a half). 2 The attempts at modernisation after the 1880s. 3 The geo-political position of Afghanistan and its vulnerability to exter-
nal forces.
