Amanullah Khan (
Pashto: أمان الله خان,
Dari: أمان الله خان,
Urdu: أمانالله خان, June 1, 1892 – April 25, 1960) was the
Sovereign of the
Kingdom of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929, first as
Emir and after 1926 as
Malik (
King). After the
third Anglo-Afghan War,
Afghanistan was able to pursue an independent
foreign policy free from the influence of the
United Kingdom, and his rule was marked by dramatic political and social change. He was the first Afghan ruler who attempted to modernize Afghanistan on Western designs. However, he did not succeed in this because of a popular uprising by
Habibullah Kalakani and his followers. On 14 January 1929, Amanullah abdicated and fled to neighbouring
British India while Afghanistan fell into a civil war. From British India he went to
Europe where he died in
Zürich,
Switzerland, in 1960.