ABSTRACT
The previous chapter dealt with the development of the state over a period of 200 years. One of the problems Afghan rulers began to face was modernisation. After Amanullah another important figure that addressed the modernisation issue was Mohammad Daoud, a key figure in Zaher Shah’s government since 1933. Paternal cousin, brother-in-law and also two years older than the king, graduating with him from the same Kabul Harbi Showanzai or military school, Zaher Shah always listened to his advice. But Daoud’s five years as President, internally marred by coup d’etats, political arrests and murders and externally by the ever growing Soviet grip over Afghanistan was a time of uncertainties, intrigue and upheaval with disastrous consequences for himself and the country.
