1950

• Shah Mahmood Ghazi is named Prime Minister.

1952

• 20 September -The King proclaims Mohammad Daoud [his cousin] as the new Prime Minister.

• Soviet Union complains about presence of UN personnel in northern Afghanistan.

1955

• 27 March -Mohammad Daoud warns Pakistan over Pashtunistan. Subsequently, an Afghan mob attacks the Pakistani Embassy and Consulates in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

• 14 July - Afghanistan becomes a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

• 13 November - The Loya Jirga permits the Government to receive military assistance from abroad.

• 16 November – Nikita Khrushchev, Secretary of the Politburo of USSR’s Communist Party and Prime Minister Nikolai Bulgarin pay an official visit to Afghanistan.

1956

• 28 October - Afghanistan receives 11 fighter jets from the Soviet Union.

1958

• - 21 June – Invited by President Dwight Eisenhower, Prime Minister Daoud arrives in the US.

1959

• 22 March – Dag Hammerskjold, Secretary-General of the UN arrives in Afghanistan.

• 14 September – Jawaher Lal Nehru visits Afghanistan.

• 9 December – President Dwight Eisenhower arrives in Kabul on an official visit.

1960

• 2 April -The work of extending the Kandahar-Herat Highway begins.

1960

• 26 April -Amir Amanullah Khan dies in Zurich, Switzerland.

• 2 July -Jangalak Factory begins operating with Soviet technical assistance

• 13 August – Two Pakistani planes which violated Afghan air space were forced down in Kandahar and then released.

• 18 August -Construction of Darunta Dam begins.

• 22 October – King Mohammad Zahir Shah visits Egypt and Yugoslavia.

1961

• 6 September -Diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are suspended.

• 14 October – US President John F. Kennedy extends mediation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

1963

• - 14 March -Initiating the 'Democratic Decade', the King assigns Dr. Youssof the task of naming a new cabinet.

• German Siemens Company undertakes the networking of a telephone system in Kabul with 120,000 lines.

• 2 September – Invited by President John F. Kennedy, King Mohammad Zahir Shah and Queen Homaira visit the US.

• 12 October – Leonid Brezhnev visits Kabul and lays the foundation of Kabul Polytechnic Institute.

1964

• 29 February – The Consultative Committee for the evaluation of the new Constitution begins its work.

• 14 May – The draft of the new Constitution is completed.

• 12 August – A new Constitutional Loya Jirga is convened in Kabul and the new Constitution is ratified in September.

1965

• 1 December -Mohammad Hashem Maiwandwal becomes Prime Minister.

1966

• 11 April -Khalq daily [belonging to the Communist Movement] starts its publication in Kabul.

1966

• -- Afghanistan joins the Asian Development Bank as a founding member.

1967

• 1 November -Mohammad Zahir Shah nominates Noor Ahmad E'temadi to assign a new cabinet.

1968

• - 25 January -Polytechnic Institute is inaugurated in Kabul with Soviet assistance.

1968

• 23 April -Official export of Sheberghan natural gas to the Soviet Union begins.

1969

• - King Mohammad Zahir Shah and Queen Homaira pay a state visit to Japan.

1971

• 8 June – Dr.Abdul Zahir is posted as the new Prime Minister.

• Their Imperial Highnesses Akihito and Michiko visit Kabul, Bamiyan and Qunduz.

1972

• - 11 December -Mohammad Moussa Shafeeq replaces Dr. Zahir as the new Prime Minister.

1973

• 25 June – King Mohammad Zahir Shah leaves for medical treatment to Italy.

• 17 July -- Mohammad Daoud (the King's cousin) stages a coup and takes power with the assistance of military officers.

• 24 August – To ensure a bloodless peaceful coup, King Mohammad Zahir Shah officially abdicates the throne.

1974

• 4 June – President Daoud leaves for Moscow to meet Soviet leaders.

1975

• 23- 28 July -- A military rebellion is staged in Panjsher against the government of Mohammad Daoud.

• 9 December – Soviet President Pudgurni visits Kabul.

1976

• 10-20 March – President Daoud visits India, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

• 7 June – Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto arrives in Kabul for an official visit.

• 3 July – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi pays official visit to Kabul.

1977

• 15 February – A Loya Jirga called upon by the President confirms Mohammad Daoud as the President.

• 24 February – The President promulgates the newly-drafted, Loya Jirga-ratified constitution as the new Law of the land.

• 10 October – Pakistani President Zia-ul Haq visits Kabul and meets with President Daoud.

1978

• 5 March – Invited by Pakistani President Zia-ul Haq, President Daoud travels to Islamabad.

• 2 April – President Daoud leaves on a trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt.

• 26 April – Kabul Radio announces that members of the Communist party including Noor Mohammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal (later Communist regime heads) were arrested.

• 28 April -- The Communist Party launches a coup, kills Mohammad Daoud and his family, and takes over the country.

• 30 April – USSR is the first country to recognize the new regime.

• 17 June – Members of the Parcham faction of the Communist party are appointed as overseas ambassadors.

• 20 July -- The people of Nuristan and Kunar stage a rebellion against the new Communist regime.

• 27 November – Six Parcham leaders – serving as ambassadors – are removed under pretext of attempting to overthrow the regime.

• 5 December – A comprehensive agreement is signed between USSR and the new regime by Taraki in Moscow.

1979

• 14 February -- Adolph Dobbs, the American Ambassador to Afghanistan is mysteriously killed in Kabul.

• 15 March -- The people of Heraat stage a mass rebellion against the Communist regime and suffer casualties by the thousands.

• 23 June -- The inhabitants of the Chindawul District of Kabul rise against the Communist regime.

• 15 August – Officers and soldiers of the Kabul Garrison (Bala Hisar) stage rebellion against the regime.

• 14 September – Infighting between supporters of Taraki and Hafizullah Amin takes place inside the presidential palace.

• 16 September – Hafizullah Amin becomes the new head of regime.

• 9 October – Radio Kabul announces Taraki’s death due to illness.

• 25 October – The new regime releases the names of 12,000 people executed in the Pule-e-Charkhi prison.

• 16 December – USSR deploys military units along the Afghan northern border.

• 27 December -- The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and the regime’s head Hafizullah Amin is killed.

• 31 December – Babrak Karmal is announced as the new prime minister, the head of the revolutionary council and the secretary-general of the central committee of the democratic Khalq party.