The article describes reforms carried out by the Emir of Afghanistan Habibullah in the early 20th\ century, analyzes the objective prerequisites for these reforms and social factors restraining them. It is concluded that the main factors of modernization were external rather than internal ones. It is argued that by the late second half of the 19th century, Afghanistan faced a need to preserve its own identity. It was the external factor that had become decisive. On one hand, this factor slowed down modernization, since it increased the influence of Europeans, whose impact conservative forces sought to avoid; on the other hand, it stimulated progress, since enlightened rulers understood that the threat of the country’s colonization by imperialists had not been avoided. The author states that in the early 20th century, Afghanistan was a feudal country in which agricultural land and cattle were the main economic resources. The author sees the reason for the significant political changes that took place in Afghanistan in the early 20th century in the shifts that occurred in the social structure of Afghan society. The article evaluates the reformist role of the intellectuals, concluding that they had their share of influence on the nobility, but their impact on the society as a whole was negligible compared to the clerical circles. The author comes to the conclusion that Habibullah Khan took into account the opinions of conservatives. For this reason, his reforms were very limited, but they created the necessary ground for more radical transformations by his successor Emir Amanullah.