ABSTRACT
The chain of events that led eventually to the Communist takeover in Afghanistan in 1978 stretched back over more than half a century. After Amanullah had won independence, he tried to modernise Afghan society, with disastrous results. The tribes rose in revolt in 1929 and he was forced into exile. Several months of anarchy followed, until the Musahiban brothers, from another branch of the Durrani dynasty, invaded the country from India and re-established the monarchy. After the eldest brother, Nadir Shah, was assassinated in 1933, his son, Zahir Shah, ascended the throne. However, the government was effectively run by his uncles and, from 1953 onwards, by his cousin, Sardar Mohammed Daud.
