[5] Prior to 1924, the city of Khost had rebelled twice: the first rebellion took place from 1856 to 1857 and was fought by Khostwal and Waziri tribesmen against the rule of Dost Mohammad Khan.

[22] There were multiple reasons for the rebellion in 1924, including opposition to the Westernizing reforms made by King Amanullah of Afghanistan,[8] a code promulgated in 1923 called the "Nizamnama", which granted women more freedom and allowed the government to regulate other issues seen as family problems, which were formerly handled by religious authorities,[3] a new law which restricted passage for the eastern tribes across the Durand Line,[7] restrictions placed on the practice of polygyny, the abolition of child marriage,[7] the imposition of property taxes,[7] the "insolent, brazen and deceitful" actions of district chiefs, governors, and military officers,[7] the bribery of ministers, judges and clerks,[7] ignoring the pleas of "the needy",[7] the increase of customs duties,[7] a military draft,[7] and other regulations which were aimed at "ending strife and violence".

[7] According to the contemporary Afghan historian Fayz Muhammad, the immediate cause of the revolt laid in a dispute, where a man from the Mangal tribe claimed he was betrothed to a woman, declaring that he had been engaged with her since childhood.

Some of this man's enemies went to the governor of the southern province, Amr al-Din, and the qazi-magistrate, Abdullah, commonly known as Mullah-i-Lang or Pir-i-Lang (the lame Mullah),[23] and disputed this claim.

[7] With the new code in one hand and the Koran in the other, they called the tribes to choose between the word of God and that of man, and adjured them to resist demands, the acceptance of which would reduce their sons to slavery in the Afghan army and their daughters to the degrading influence of Western education.

In mid-March 1924,[3][24] the city of Khost, where protests had been ongoing since autumn 1923, erupted in an open rebellion against the government, led by Mulla Abd Allah.

[17] With appeals to Pashtun honour, incitements, and promises of paradise for true-believing Muslims, Mulla succeeded at raising all the tribes of the Southern Province against the Afghan government.

[3] As resistance increased, the Afghan government sent a delegation to the rebels, arguing that Amanullah's reforms had not been in conflict with the Sharia, but these negotiations proved fruitless.

[17] To his surprise, the majority of Ulama attending the assembly demanded the nullification of the reforms,[17] which led Amanullah reluctantly withdraw some of his policies and begin negotiations in early June.

[26] Nevertheless, he deserted the unit at some unspecified time, and after working in Peshawar moved to Parachinar (on the Afghan border) where he was arrested and sentenced to eleven months imprisonment.

[3] Heavy fighting also took place in the Southern Province from 23 to 26 August, and 4 days later 1500 troops under Mir Zamer Khan defected to the government.

[35] Louis Dupree instead attributes the defeat to Britain selling 2 World War I-era aircraft to Afghanistan, stating that they had "a salutory effect on tribal forces when they appeared on the scene, bombing and strafing the rebels.

"[6] Over the course of the Rebellion, which Fayz Muhammad described as being suppressed "only with great difficulty",[9] 14,000 people had perished,[7] and the Afghan government lost £5 million in state revenue.