The causes of the revolts lay in the worsening conditions of farmers, changes in conscription laws, the elimination of the power of Safi tribal leaders, Amanullah loyalism, trading monopolies, government surveillance, taxation, and poverty.

Faqir of Ipi, a tribal leader from Waziristan (then part of British India), also fought for the restoration of former king Amanullah Khan alongside other rebels.

A 14-day long Safi siege of Kunar Khas was unsuccessful due to the Afghan air force supplying the settlement with food and ammunition.

[8] They would then have to transport the harvests to government warehouses in Bar Kunar (Asmar) and Kuz Kanar (Khewa) districts.

[10] One of the rebel leaders, Mazrak, supported the restoration of Amanullah Khan,[11] a king of Afghanistan who was deposed in the Afghan Civil War (1928–1929).

According to British records, it began shortly after the Afghan government moved troops into the southern province to reassert their authority in the area, which by then was a safe haven for smugglers.

[16] En route, the government force was attacked by a Zadian tribal leader named Mazrak.

[18] On 25 April, the Afghan government dispatched 6 Hawker Hind aircraft[19] to Gardez[14] to deal with the uprising, which returned on 21 June.

[19] On request of the Afghan government, the British Raj took precautions to prevent Waziri tribesmen from aiding Mazrak.

[18] During the period of 1 August to 31 October 1944, no major Afghan aerial operations against Mazrak were undertaken, other than reconnaissance flights.

[24] Further aerial operations against Mazrak, which included reconnaissance and bombing runs, took place in the Kunar valley from 24 June to 31 October 1945.

[22] Ultimately, after 2 and a half years of resistance, Mazrak and his brother Sher Muhd Khan surrendered to the Afghan government,[1] on 11 January 1947.

[27] It started when an order to arrest the Safi leaders - Sultan Mohammad, Abdul Qadir, Mir Salam and Momoond Khan, came to the notice of Mir Salam who informed the other leaders and managed to incite a general uprising at Davagal and Badil among others.

[28] The conflict began when Safi rebels ambushed and captured government troops intended to gather conscripts.

[33] Starting in late August 1945, 1,500-2,000 Safi rebels besieged a 400-men strong government garrison at Kunar Khas.

[24] This siege lasted 14 days, with the Safi being unable to capture Kunar Khas due to the Afghan air force supplying the settlement with food and ammunition.

It was rumoured that on one occasion, Afghan aircraft accidentally bombed and machine gunned government troops or allied tribal levies, causing 40 casualties.

[25] Two aerial officers, Muhd Anwar Khan (pilot) and Abdul Vaqil Khan (observer) were killed in the operations, while another aerial officer, a pilot, fell into the hands of the rebels in the Mazar or Pech Daras, where he was knifed in the back and had his throat cut, but survived after local villagers found him laying unconscious near his aircraft and tended to his wounds.

[8] Veterans of the Afghan army who fought against the Safi were awarded the Royal Medal for the Suppression of the Rebellion in Kunar Province.

A pro-India stance in this case would necessitate stopping Pashtuns from joining Pakistan's war against India, which was expected to cause a resurgence in rebel activity when the government was hoping to focus on national reform.

[53] During the tribal revolts, Mohammad Daoud Khan led Afghan forces against the Safi and thereby came to national attention.

Daoud's military victories contributed to his rise to power, leading to his later assumption of the office of prime minister, and eventually the 1973 Afghan coup d'état.

[56] An article by Hafeez R. Khan from 1960, titled "Afghanistan and Pakistan", also briefly mentions a Safi revolt lasting from 1948 to 1949 in a timeline of Afghan history.

[58] Transition in Afghanistan: Hope, Despair and the Limits of Statebuilding mentions "the putting-down of a Safi Pushtun revolt in 1947" as an aside.

However, Conflict in Afghanistan: A Historical Encyclopedia's biography of Daoud only mentions a single Safi revolt in 1945, which he quelled during his office as Commander of the Central Forces, which he held from 1939 to 1947.

[39] It should also be noted that it's very common for authors writing about the 1945 Safi revolt to give different start and end dates.