Created under the impulse of King Amanullah in 1922 as Amaniya School, it was renamed in 1931 to Lycée Esteqlal (meaning "independence" in Persian).

Masturat was closed from 1928 to 1932, then reopened in 1932 through the efforts of the new King Nadir Shah and became a girls secondary school in 1939, led by a French teacher.

In 1942, the school moved to a new building and took the name of Lycée Malalai, from the name of a famous Afghan woman who fought in the resistance against the invading English in 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

[3][4][5] In 2014 a suicide bomber attacked a cultural center at Esteqlal High School, killing a German national and injuring 16.

[7] Many internationally renowned Afghan personalities and figures have received part of their education or have obtained their baccalaureate in Lycée Esteqlal.