Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan, was eventually overthrown by his own cousin Mohammad Daoud Khan who successfully ended the centuries-old monarchy and established a republic.

[3] Under Zahir Shah, the government initiated numerous concerted efforts to bring education to Darai Nur, majority of the valley being inhabited by the Pashayi people.

[5] Five years earlier, in 1950, Afghanistan signed friendship contracts with India and Lebanon, established political contacts with Syria and recognised the People's Republic of China.

The next month, Zahir Shah abdicated, hoping to avoid a civil war, which officially marked the end of the Kingdom of Afghanistan and the beginning of the Republic.

The strange shape and borders of the country, most notably the Wakhan Corridor, were a result of its former role as a buffer state between Russia and the United Kingdom.

This included the Four Point Program in 1951, when Afghanistan and the United States signed an agreement in Kabul to help assist the economic development in the economy, and the construction of a 100 km pipeline from Termez to Mazar-i-Sharif that was built by Soviet technicians and began in 1954.

Afghanistan received $18,500,000 from the Export–Import Bank of the United States to help them purchase U.S. material, equipment, and services for the Helmand River valley developmental project.

[12] For these new commando formations, Captain Habibullah led the 242nd after returning from Fort Benning in the US to Afghanistan, additionally receiving training from the British Special Air Service.

Major Safi would prove to be a suitable leader, as he had undergone training in the British Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and in the Soviet Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School.

In the years 1962 and 1963, before the establishment of the Afghan Commando Forces, Safi worked alongside the "National Mujahideen of Pashtunistan" against the Pakistani government, after the unsuccessful Bajaur campaign of 1960-1961.