The force was composed of numerous brigades, regiments and battalions initially established by King Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1964 and was disbanded in 1992 , following the collapse of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in the First Afghan Civil War.

Sardar Abdul Wali, Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Central Army Corps, established the battalion to suppress demonstrations, riots in the capital Kabul, and to prevent potential coup attempts.

[6] The early commando and parachute battalion's officer base was primarily made up of the Afghan aristocracy and those close to Sardar Abdul Wali, who feared a potential coup attempt from Mohammad Daoud Khan.

They additionally wore a black sleeve badge depicting a silver bullion airborne cap with wheat and red thunderbolts on each side.

[11] Sardar Abdul Wali ordered units of the Royal Afghan Army, such as the 717th Civil Disciplinary Regiment (which was responsible for internal discipline and enforcement of military standards within the 1st Central Corps) to remove the protestors by force and use buses to deport them out of Kabul, back to their homes.

The protestors performed a sleep-in outside of the mosque and inside its courtyard as a form of peaceful protest, as soldiers attempted to wake them up and make them leave the area.

[2][11] As the 444th Commando Battalion held a strategic position within Kabul, Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan turned his attention towards the unit to enlist their support in the operation that would later be the 1973 Afghan coup d'état.

[7][2] The commandos then coordinated the arrests of members of the royal family such as Crown Prince Ahmad Shah and Lt. General Abdul Wali Khan.

[2][16] After the capture of the Arg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, the Chief Registrar’s office and this disarmament of the royal gendarme, Faiz Mohammed and his forces proceeded to Daoud Khan’s residence and informed him of the operation’s success.

[1] During the final hours of the coup, Lt. Imauddin, an officer of the 444th Commando Battalion, and Gul Aqa, chief of the Republican Guard Brigade, both ordered Daoud Khan to surrender.

Additionally, Lt.Gen Shahnawaz Tanai, would also take part in the coup, being photographed standing outside the gates of the Arg Presidential Palace with a Heckler & Koch MP5.

[1] Only months after the coup, Hidayatullah Aziz was removed from his position as Head of Operations at the Ministry of Defense and assigned to Harbi Military University as a deputy, despite his role in the Saur Revolution with the 444th Commando Battalion.

[7] On 20 April 1979, the 444th Commando Regiment and the 11th Division of the Afghan Army committed the Kerala massacre, indiscriminately killing 1,000 civilians including women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

[1] The mutineers were met with ruthless air bombardment by the Khalq government's MiG aircraft, Mi-24 helicopter gunships (given by the USSR after the 1979 Herat uprising), tanks, AGSA intelligence officers and paramilitary forces under the Ministry of Interior.

[1] On 8 October 1979, Hafizullah Amin had Nur Muhammad Taraki assassinated after being informed of a murder plot which was to be perpetrated by the "Gang of Four" and later assumed power, becoming the new president of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

[35][36][37] Only days later, on 15 October 1979, the 444th Commando Battalion were ordered to suppress yet another rebellion launched by Afghan Army mutineers of the 7th Division in Rishkhor, located in the southwestern outskirts of Kabul.

[38][39] As part of Baikal-79, a larger operation aimed at taking 20 key strongholds in and around Kabul, the Soviet 105th Airborne Division secured the city and disarmed Afghan Army units without facing opposition.

[44][11] According to Soviet advisors to KhAD-e-Nezami’s Spetsnaz battalions, the Pakistan Armed Forces did not want to capture the SpN operatives alive, testifying to their effectiveness.

[1][31] As early as 1980, the province of Khost was held by the mujahideen which led the 38th Commando Brigade to launch an attack, only to take numerous casualties and lose a battalion.

According to western diplomats citing sources from New Delhi, the operation was a “bloody failure”, with the 444th Commando Battalion suffering an 80% casualty rate while conducting their spring offensives in Panjshir.

[4] In the same year, a Soviet-Afghan task force successfully broke a siege in Barikot, Kunar Valley and closed the Afghan-Pakistani border, although this led to 73 commandos being killed and 30 being captured.

[1][53] During this period, one family portrait suggests the commandos also wore light green berets alongside the cap badge, although only a single image depicts this.

[54] In September 1985, the 12th Infantry Division and elements from the 37th and 38th Commando Brigades moved from Gardez to Khost to capture Zhawar, a Mujahideen logistics transfer base in Paktia built using bulldozers and explosives.

The Mujahideen force in Zhawar were underprepared as most of its major commanders, including Jalaluddin Haqqani, were in Mecca performing the Hajj Islamic pilgrimage.

The joint force established observation posts and then took control of Tor Kamar, becoming careless as they assumed the mujahideen didn't have any heavy weaponry.

Urban additionally stated the operation "proved the Afghan Army could fight if well-organized and well-supported against heavily armed mujahideen close to their source of supply", although they took 600 casualties.

Brigadier Abdul Gafar, the "architect of the victory" was flown back to Kabul and celebrated, having successfully forced the mujahideen to fight on unequal terms and penetrated the cave complex.

[17] Formerly a sergeant, Lt. Juma Khan received his first officer rank for numerous combat distinctions, similar to many other Afghan platoon or company commanders who not only lacked specialist training but also secondary level education.

[58] According to French magazine “RAIDS”, each brigade theoretically consisted of 2,000 men organized into three combat battalions of approximately 550 commandos each, with support units.

This new combined formation was to be fully equipped with armaments, for which the Ministry of Interior and State Security (WAD) were obligated to allocate hundreds of their personnel.