
Amid corruption charges and malfeasance against the royal family and the poor economic conditions created by the severe 1971–72 drought, former Prime Minister Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan seized power in a non-violent coup on July 17, 1973, while Zahir Shah was receiving treatment for eye problems and therapy for lumbago in Italy. Daoud abolished the monarchy, abrogated the 1964 constitution, and declared Afghanistan a republic with himself as its first President and Prime Minister.
The Republic of Afghanistan was the first republic in Afghanistan. It is often called the Daoud Republic or the Jamhuriyye-Sardaran (Republic of the Princes), as it was established in July 1973 after General Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan of the Barakzai dynasty alongside senior Barakzai Princes deposed his cousin, King Mohammad Zahir Shah, in a coup d'état. Daoud Khan was known for his autocracy and attempts to modernize the country with help from both the Soviet Union and the United States, among others. His attempts to carry out badly needed economic and social reforms met with little success, and the new constitution promulgated in February 1977 failed to quell chronic political instability.
In 1978, a military coup known as the Saur Revolution took place, instigated by the Soviet-backed People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, in which Daoud and his family were killed.