KABUL: Whoever wins Afghanistan's election should beware. Assassinations and coups go with the territory - almost every amir, king and president of the country has met an unfortunate end.

Hamid Karzai has already survived at least two attempts on his life and depends on US bodyguards to protect him. Amir Yakub Khan had been in the job for just eight months when he abdicated in 1879 saying he "would rather be a grass cutter in an English camp than ruler of Afghanistan".

The risks did not diminish in the 20th century. In 1919, Amir Habibullah was murdered while he slept and his brother Nasrullah named himself amir. Habibullah's son, Amanullah, soon took over, tried Nasrullah for the murder and had him sentenced to life imprisonment. Habibullah's killing was never satisfactorily explained and many believed Amanullah himself was involved.

Amanullah's efforts to westernise the country, introducing western dress and education for women, that lost him popular support so that when a Tajik bandit known as Bacha-i-Saqao led a revolt in 1928, Amanullah fled in a Rolls Royce through the snow drifts to British-ruled India.

The violent rule of Bacha-i-Saqao, or "son of a water carrier", lasted nine months before he was overthrown by Nadir Khan, a former military commander who returned from the south of France with his brothers to rally tribal support. Bacha surrendered, was executed and the commander, who renamed himself Nadir Shah, was proclaimed king.

King Nadir Shah ruled firmly, repressively even, for four years. In 1933, he was shot dead in revenge for the execution of one of his political enemies. His son, Zahir Shah, took over the throne at the age of 19.

The four decades he ruled are regarded as the most stable period of modern Afghan history. In 1973, he was overthrown by his cousin Sardar Mohammad Daoud, a former prime minister, and went into exile in Italy for decades.

Five years later, in 1978, President Daoud was killed, along with most of his family, after a coup lead by Marxist. Nur Muhammad Taraki became president of the communist government. Just over a year later, Taraki followed Daoud to the grave, killed in a palace shootout by gunmen loyal to his prime minister and defence minister Hafizullah Amin.

Three months later, in December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan and Amin was killed in an assault on the palace, although there were also rumours he was poisoned or committed suicide by poison.

Babrak Kamal was installed as head of Moscow's puppet government at the start of the 10-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Moscow dumped Kamal in 1986 and installed Muhammad Najibullah, a former secret police chief with a reputation for brutality. Kamal died in exile 10 years later, of natural causes.

Najibullah's regime survived more than two years after the Soviet army quit Afghanistan in 1989. Its end finally came when rival mujahideen commanders converged on Kabul in April, 1992. Najibullah took refuge in the UN compound in Kabul.

In the ensuing civil war, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who had been a mujahideen leader, emerged as president and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, became his prime minister, but the civil war raged on. Out of the chaos emerged the Taliban who took Kabul in 1996 and executed Najibullah and his brother. -Reuters