ABDUR RAHMAN KHAN (c. 1844-1901), amir of Afghanistan, was the son of Afzul Khan, who was the eldest son of Dost Mohammed Khan, the famous amir, by whose success In war the Barakzai family established their dynasty in the ruler ship of Afghanistan. Before his death at Herat, June 9, 1863, Dost Mohammed had nominated as his successor Shere Ali, his third son, passing over the two elder brothers, Afzul Khan and Azim Khan; and at first the new amir was quietly recognized. But after a few months Afzul Khan raised an insurrection in the northern province, between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus, where he had been governing when his father died ; and then began a fierce contest for power among the sons of Dost Mohammed which lasted for nearly five years. In this war Abdur Rahman soon be came distinguished for ability and daring energy. Although his father, Afzul Khan, who had none of these qualities, came to terms with the Amir Shere Ali, the son's behaviour in the northern prov ince soon excited the amir's suspicion, and Abdur Rahman, when he was summoned to Kabul, fled across the Oxus into Bukhara. Shere Ali threw Afzul Khan into prison, and a serious revolt fol lowed in south Afghanistan ; but the amir had scarcely suppressed it when Abdur Rahman's reappearance in the north was a signal for a mutiny of the troops stationed in those parts and a gathering of armed bands to his standard. After some delay and desultory fighting, he and his uncle, Azim Khan, occupied Kabul (March 1866). The amir Shere Ali marched up agaihst them from Kan dahar; but in the battle that ensued at Sheikhabad on May in, he was deserted by a large body of his troops, and was defeated. Abdur Rahman then released his father, Afzul Khan, from prison in Ghazni and installed him as amir of Afghanistan. Notwith standing the new amir's incapacity and some jealousy between the real leaders, Abdur Rahman and his uncle, they again routed Shere Ali's forces and occupied Kandahar in 1867; and when at the end of that year Afzul Khan died Azim Khan succeeded to the ruler ship, with Abdur Rahman as his governor in the northern province. But towards the end of 1868 Shere Ali's return and a general rising in his favour, resulting in their defeat at Tinah Khan on Jan. 3, 1869, forced them both to seek refuge in Persia, whence Abdur Rahman proceeded afterwards to place himself under Russian protection at Samarkand. Azim died in Persia in Oct. 1869.
In 1893 the amir showed his usual ability in the settlement of the frontier question with Sir Henry Durand's mission. Abdur Rahman died on Oct. 1, 1901, being succeeded by his son Habibullah. (See AFGHANISTAN : History.) See also S. Wheeler, F.R.G.S., The Amir Abdur Rahman (1895) J. A. Grey, At the Court of the Amir (1895) ; The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., edited by Mir Munshi, Sultan Mohammed Khan (1900).