At the time of his birth he was second in the line of succession to the throne after his older brother Muhammed Akbar Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan.

Later he attended the University of Oxford, the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (IEP) and spent time working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

His father's reign ended on 17 July 1973, when he was ousted by a coup with Afghanistan being declared a republic by Mohammad Daoud Khan, a member of the royal family.

[1] Following the overthrow of the monarchy, the Crown Prince settled in the U.S. state of Virginia and took to writing poetry.

[3] He was married at Chilstoon Palace in Kabul on 22 November 1961 to Princess Khatul Begum (born 1940), daughter of Sardar Muhammad Umar Khan Zikeria, by his wife, Princess Sultana Begum, fourth daughter of Mohammad Nadir Shah, former King of Afghanistan (d. 1933).