Habibullah Khan (June 3, 1872 – February 20, 1919) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until 1919. He was the eldest son of the former Emir, whom he succeeded by right of primogeniture in October 1901.

Habibullah was a relatively secular, reform-minded ruler who attempted to modernize his country. During his reign he worked to bring Western medicine and other technology to Afghanistan. In 1904, Habibullah founded the Habibia school as well as a military academy. He also worked to put in place progressive reforms in his country. He instituted various legal reforms and repealed many of the harshest criminal penalties. Other reforms included the dismantling of the repressive internal intelligence organization that had been put in place by his father.

He strictly maintained the country's neutrality in World War I, despite strenuous efforts by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a German military mission to enlist Afghanistan on its side. He also greatly reduced tensions with British India, signing a treaty of friendship in 1905 and paying an official state visit in 1907.

Habibullah was assassinated while on a hunting trip at Laghman Province on February 20, 1919.

It could seem like Afghanistan with some impatience waiting for the big World War to become the occasion launching wars in the old style . It had been outside of the big events but still not far failed to achieve so much anger it just went . Afghan emir was in breach of contract with England invited an Russo- Turkish military delegation to the country. Having enemies represented just above the Indian frontier was obviously a threat to England, but the British management in India could not afford and force enough to risk a war with Afghanistan to rebuke the Emir . He got to keep his Germans and Turks until they got tired and went home. But they left behind evidence of their presence and activities , which confirmed that the English suspicions of a conspiracy behind the riots in India were not unfounded. In Afghan capital Kabul was the spring of 1919 a group of Indian nationalists who called themselves the Provisional Government of India. Some of them were hired in and connected to the German-Turkish military delegation. They had relations with various groups rooting for Indian independence and numerous kommunications with them, through the mountain passes and past the forts. In Kabul were printed bundles of leaflets calling for it to revolt against the British.The successor to the now murdered Emir announced that Afghanistan shared the oppressed Indians' feelings and intended to support them in their struggle for freedom. The war came to be known as the "Third Afghan War." 175000 Troops attended on the English side. That should have given the peacemakers in Paris a thought about how the world was still constituted, but they too were relieved about the peace treaty they signed to observera these ominous sign of how the future would turn out, despite all their commendable efforts and lofty talk about it never be war no more.