5 Afghanis - Muhammed Zahir Shah

Afghanistan's shift to nickel-plated steel coinage in the early 1960s was driven largely by chronic metal shortages and IMF-backed currency stabilization efforts following years of budgetary strain under Zahir Shah's government. The 1961 issues came just as Afghanistan was navigating delicate Cold War-era relationships with both the Soviet Union and the United States, each providing competing development aid. Soviet engineers were building roads in the north while American money flowed into Helmand Valley irrigation projects — the coinage circulating through all of it.