When the Ottoman Empire fell in 1918, Faisal I declared himself King of Syria. Under Faisal, Bukhari commanded the Aleppo garrison before being sent to Cairo in January 1920 as military attache to Egypt. In July 1920 French Mandate of Syria was declared, and the country was divided into several independent states. In September 1920, Haqqi al-Azm was appointed governor of the State of Damascus, and in December he appointed Bukhari as minister of military affairs in his administration, which served until 1922. After the suppression of the Great Syrian Revolt in 1926, Ahmad Nami was appointed by the new French Commissioner, Henri de Jouvenel, to head a provisional council of ministers in the State of Syria, which comprised the former states of Damascus and Aleppo. Bukhari served as minister of agriculture in Ahmad Nami's cabinet until its resignation in February 1928.