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Habibullah
Ghazi (Habibullah
Kalakani) was born in the 1890’s in Afghanistan. After being
unsuccessful at school, various odd jobs and in army, he found a
successful and lucrative carrier of robbing caravans on the Silk Road
traveling between China and the Middle East. He soon became a
powerful local warlord. In 1928 King Amanullah’s attempts to modernize
the country, provoked revolts by conservatives throughout the
country. Habibullah initially used his troops to support the
King, then turned and marched on Kabul, the capital.
Amanullah
fled the country and Habibullah became king of Afghanistan on January
17, 1929. He promptly reversed most of Amanullah’s
reforms.
Meanwhile, General Mohammad Nadir Khan, (Nadir Shah) who had been
exiled by Amanullah, returned from Europe, and with a little help from
the British, quickly retook the country. By October, Nadir
Khan
surrounded Kabul and Habibullah fled back to his
village.
Nadir Khan promised Habibullah’s safety, but instead he executed him
and Nadir Khan made himself king. This silver Half Rupee
(Qiran)
was issued during the short, 9 month reign of Habibullah Ghazi
in1929. It is dated AH1347. One side shows the
Afghan arms
that features a mosque and two flags. The other side has
inscriptions within a wreath, including the title “Amir
Habibullah”. The coin shows little wear, but is unevenly
struck
so many of the details do not show up. It is a scarce coin
from
the short reign of the bandit who became the King of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
recently released its first coins for circulation since 1980.
The set includes a copper-plated steel 1 Afghani, a steel 2
Afghani and an aluminum-bronze (brass) 5 Afghani, dated SH1383, which
corresponds to AD2004. The coins feature the denomination on
one side and the traditional arms of Afghanistan on the
other. The coins were minted in Europe, sent by ship to
Pakistan, and then trucked to Afghanistan. Millions of the
coins were stolen while they were in transit in Pakistan. The loss was
only discovered when sharp-eyed customs official noted that a truck
containing the coins was much lighter than it should have
been. The release of the coins was delayed until the stolen
coins were recovered. The coins help mark Afghanistan's return to
normalcy after years of civil war and Taliban rule.
UNITED
STATES WORLD CUP SOCCER CELEBRATED ON SILVER AFGHAN COIN
RARE
SILVER COIN OF MANGUBARNI

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