Person

Abdur Rahman Khan

c. 1840–1901 · 19th century · Also known as Iron Emir

Abdur Rahman Khan, the 'Iron Emir', ruled Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901 after the Second Anglo-Afghan War. With British subsidies and control of his foreign policy, he built a standing army, crushed tribal revolts, annexed Badakhshan and the Hazarajat and forcibly converted Kafiristan. The Durand Line of 1893 fixed his border with British India, and his centralised state shaped modern Afghanistan.

Abdur Rahman Khan
Image: Frank A. Martin · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Principality of BadakhshanEmirate of Afghanistan

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Abdur Rahman Khan. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/abdur-rahman-khan
MLA
“Abdur Rahman Khan.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/abdur-rahman-khan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Abdur Rahman Khan.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/abdur-rahman-khan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Abdur Rahman Khan’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/abdur-rahman-khan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻