Afghanistan experienced a series of political systems, including monarchy, constitutional monarchy, socialist republic, Islamic government, Islamic emirate and the Islamic republic governments between 1922 and 2021.    

At least 14 people ruled Afghanistan in the past 100 years.   

In its contemporary history, Afghanistan has witnessed the overthrow of one regime after another. During this period, regimes were overthrown in the country as a result of revolutions and military coups.  

Starting in 1919, Amani era is often considered as one of the golden periods in the contemporary history of Afghanistan King Amanullah carried out remarkable economic activities immediately after gaining the country’s independence. 

During this era, Afghanistan saw a short period of peace. But later on, Habibullah Kalakani started a rebellion against him. Kalakani came on the thrown for nine months and established the emirate of Afghanistan.   

After Kalakani, Mohammad Nadir Shah took over the politics in the country but he was succeeded by his son Mohammad Zahir Shah.   

Zahir Shah ruled over the country for 40 years during which he assigned nine prime ministers.   

After the fall of Zahir Shah, several regimes were established in Afghanistan under Mohammad Daud Khan, Noor Mohammad Taraki, Hafizullah Amin, Babrak Karmal, Sibghatollah Mojadadadi, Dr. Najibullah, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Hamid Karzai and the incumbent president Ashraf Ghani. 

Afghanistan has been in political turmoil for the past 40 years and the prospect for an end to the current conflict still remains unclear.   

In the past 100 years, Afghanistan’s national flag was changed for ten times.   

The first national flag that contained black, red and green colors was initially proposed by King Amanullah in 1929.  

In the past 100 years, Afghanistan was ruled by 14 presidents, kings and emirs.   

During this period, two of the rulers, including the Taliban’s founding leader Mullah Omar and Habibullah Kalakani declared themselves as the Amir-ul-Momineen (the commander of the faithful).   

“As you know, in the past century, majority of the political rulers derived their credibility from ethnic politics or religion,” said Ahmad Zia Massoud, the deputy head of Jamiat-e-Islami led by Salahuddin Rabbani.   

 “This century has taught us that one of the serious problems of Afghanistan has been instability and stability in governance. We constantly changed the structures, but we never worked for development,” political commentator Faramarz Tamanna said.  

In the past 100 years, Afghan politicians have made several commitments for reconciliation and peace; however, they later violated their promises. 

The first democratic election was held in Afghanistan in 2005 in which Hamid Karzai was elected as president. 

Some of the political systems in Afghanistan during this period was established with the support of foreign countries. 

Even today the Afghan people as main victims of the political issues in the past 100 years are demanding peace and protection of the gains the country has made in its strides towards democracy during the past 20 years, including the protection of women’s rights