د پاملرنې وړ

تاریخ

آیا پوهیږی چی د ایرانی صفویانو پلازمینه، اصفهان چا فتح کړه؟:

ملی مبارز، ډیپلومات، شاعر او سپه سالار سیدال خان ناصری.

د محمد سیدال خان پلار ابدال خان کله چی سلطان ملخی توخی (د نازو انا پلار) له جلدک څخه تر غزنی سیمه کی خپلواک ژوند او حکومت کاوه، هلته له خپلو خلکو سره میشته شو.

ابدال خان له نورو ملی مشرانو سره د صفویانو د حاکم ګرګین پرضد جګړه کوله او صفویانو ته یی اجاره نه ورکوله چی پر قلات حکومت وکړی.

سیدال خان، وړتیا او زړورتیا له خپل پلار څخه په میراث اخیستی وه، د پوهې او ادب په حصول کې هم ډیر هڅاند وه او د فقی، تفسیر، صرف او نحو … او دري ادبیاتو زده کړې یې هم وکړې.

د هوتکيانو د واکمنۍ په دریو لسیزو کې د هیواد دننه او بهر د مبارزو او فتوحاتو په جریان کې، سیدال خان ناصري د حکومت یو له اصلي ستنو او ټینګو بنسټونو څخه و، چې په نظامي برخه کې یې یو عالي او تل پاتې تاریخي ریکارډ پریښی دی.

کله چې په ۱۷۰۸ میلادی کال کې، ملي مشر میرویس خان هوتکي، د دیني عالمانو د فتوا ترلاسه کولو وروسته، قندهار کی د ایران صفوی حکومت ظالم و سفاک حاکم ګورګین له مینځه لری کړ، او د هوتکيانو خپلواک حکومت یی اعلان کړ، سیدال خان ناصري د افغان ځواکونو مشر او سپه سالار وه.

او کله چی صفویانو د کندهار د بیا نیولو لپاره پوځ را ولیږه، ملی مشر میرویس خان سیدال خان ناصري د هغوی جګړی ته ولیږه چی صفوی پوځ یی تار په تار کړ.

سیدال خان ناصري د میرویس خان د اته کلن مشرتابه په ټولو اتو کلونو کی د صفوی خلاف په ټولو جګړو کې ښکېل وه، چې په ټولو جګړو کې یې افغانانو ته بریاوی راوړی وی.

د حاجي میرویس خان (۱۶۷۳ – ۱۷۱۵ میلادی) تر مرګه وروسته لومړی د هغه ورور او بیا د هغه زوی شاه محمود هوتکي واک تر.لاسه کړ.

د شاه محمود هوتکي ځواکونو د امان الله سلطان ، سیدال خان ناصري او نصرالله خان … په مشری لومړی په کرمان او بیا د ایران د صفویانو په پلازمینه اصفهان برید وکړ او فتح یې کړ.

د ۱۷۲۲ کال د اکتوبر په ۲۳ نیټه (چی د ۱۱۳۵ کال د محرم له ۱۲ سره سمون لری) د شاه محمود هوتکي په سر د سلطاني تاج د ایران شاه حسین صفوی کیښودو چی ورسره په ایران کې د افغانستان امپراطوری بنسټ کښیښودل شو.

شاه محمود هوتکي د اصفهان په چهلستون ماڼی کې شانداره میلماستی جوړه کړې وه چې په ترڅ کې یې د شاه حسین صفوی لور سره واده وکړ.

په دې توګه، د یووالي او مبارزې په پایله کې، میرویس خان هوتکي او د هغه ځای ناستو نه یوازې په کندهار کې د صفویه واکمنۍ پای ته ورساوله، بلکې د صفویانو د واکمنی لړی یې هم پای ته ورسوله.

شاه محمود هوتکي حکومت نږدې نهه کاله وه چی دوه نیم کاله یی په ایران کی هم حکومت وکړ. بیا، د رواني ناروغۍ له امله، هغه له واکه لرې شو او د هغه د تره زوی، شاه اشرف هوتکي قدرت ته ورسید.

سیدال خان ناصری د عثمانی ترکانو او روسانو پر وړاندې په فارس کې د شاه اشرف هوتکي په ټولو جګړو او خبرو اترو کې، د افغان ځواکونو سپه سالار او لوی درستیز و چې په ټولو جګړو او خبرو اترو کې بریالی و. هغه د روسیې او عثماني ترکیې لخوا د ایران د ځینو برخو د نیولو پلان شنډ کړ.

له یوې خوا په ایران کې د نادر افشار په نوم د یوه کس په څرګندیدو او له بلې خوا د افغانانو خپلمنځی ناخوالو، په ایران کې د هوتکيانو حکومت کار له خنډ سره مخ کړ. له همدې امله شاه اشرف او افغانان له ایران څخه په شاشول. شاه اشرف په شورابک سیمه کې ووژل شو.

له ۱۷۳۹ کال څخه وروسته، د هوتکيانو واکمنی یوازې په کندهار پورې محدود شوه، چی د میرویس خان کشر زوی، شاه حسین هوتکي چی یو ادیب او په فرهنګ مین سړی وه او په پښتو او دری ژبو یی شعر وایه، یی پاچا وه.

کله چې سیدال خان ناصري کندهار ته ورسید، نو هغه د شاه حسین هوتکي لخوا بیا هم سپه سالار وټاکل شو.

له بده مرغه، هغه د نظامي ځواکونو د چمتو کولو لپاره وخت نه درلود، مګر سره له ټولو ناخوالو بیا هم تر آخره یی له مقاومت څخه کار واخیست.

یو ځل له ۳۰۰۰ سرتیرو سره د هرات د ابداليانو مرستې ته هم ولاړ، خو د نادر افشار د ستر لښکر په وړاندې بریالي نشول او سیدال خان بیرته قندهار ته ستون شو.

د سیدال خان ناصري ځواکونو شمیره شل زره او د نادر افشار ځواکونه یو لک وه.

سیدال خان ناصری د دښمن په ځواکونو خواره واره بریدونه کول او د یو کال لپاره یی کندهار ته د نادر افشار د ننوتلو مخه ونیوله.

نادر افشار د فتح علی خان په قومانده، د قلات د نیولو لپاره یو اته زره کسیز لښکر ولیږه. شاه حسین د سیدال خان په مشرۍ یو څلور زره کسیز ځواک د قلات دفاع لپاره ولیږه، چې په پیل کې یې دښمن ته سخت ګوزارونه ورکړل. کله چې نادر افشار په ځواک کې د سیدال خان د شتون څخه خبر شو، نو په خپله د پنځوس زره ځواک سره هلته ولاړ، او سیدال خان او ځواکونه یی په کلا کی محاصره شول.

د څو ورځو محاصرې وروسته، نادر افشار بیرته د کندهار په لور ته راستون شو، مګر ۳۰۰۰۰ قوي ځواک د سیدال خان د ځواکونو د محاصره لپاره پاتی شول. دښمن هڅه کوله چې افغان ځواکونه د کلا څخه وباسي. دښمن ځواکونو د دوو میاشتو لپاره ونشو کولای چی کلا ته ننوځی.

دښمن ، چې د سیدال خان تسلیم کیدل د کندهار د فتح لپاره کلي ګنله، یو ناوړه چل او عمل ترسره کړ. د کلا څخه بهر یی، افغان میرمنې له تیانو ځړولی او تر هر ډول سپکاوي او توهین یی ورته کاوه او شرط یی دا وه چی هغوی به دا کار هلته بس کړی، کله چی سیدال خان او د هغه ځواکونه له جګړی او مقاومت څخه لاس واخلی.

سیدال خان لپاره چې د افغان ښځو عزت او وقار خورا مهم وه او له بلې خوا دوی ته اوبه او خواړه هم نه وه ورپاتی، افغان ځواکونو ته یې د اوربند امر وکړ.

سیدال خان ناصری چې ۳۱ کاله یې د افغانانو د پت او عزت او د ټاټوبی دفاع کړې وه، د نادر افشار بند ته ورغی.

نادر افشار په یو لوی محفل کې چی په دی اړه نیول شوی وه داسی وویل:

“به بسیار زحمات این گرگ باران دیده را به چنگ آورده ایم. اگر چه نمی زیبد که اینچنین سردار بزرگ و قهرمان کشته شود مگر من توان دو چشم این عقاب را ندارم٬ فلهذا هر دو چشمت را به من ببخش”.

او د سیدال خان ناصری دواړه سترګې د اور په لمبو کې سور شوی سیخانو باند ړندې کړې.

نادر افشار د خلکو د تیتولو او خواره واره کولو لپاره ځینی ایران ته واستول، او سیدال خان ناصري او کورنۍ یې د کابل شکر درې ته ولېږدول شول. څه وخت وروسته، سیدال خان ناصري په شکردره کې نړی څخه سترګی پټی کړی چی هلته د سیا سنګ هدیره کې ښخ کړای شو.

شاه حسین هوتکي د لسو میاشتو لپاره مقاومت وکړ، خو په پای کې کندهار نادر افشار لاس ته ورغی.

دا د یو ملي او هیواد پال شخصیت د ژوند د ځینو برخو یادونه وه.

د سیدال خان ناصري د دی ملی، آزاد او اوسپنیزی ارادی خاوند شخصیت روح، او د ټولو ملي مبارزینو روح چې دښمن ته یی سر ټیټ نه کړ، دی خوښ او ځای دی جنت وی.

ناصر اوریا * ۲۳ سپتمبر ۲۰۲۰ – تکزاس Naser Oria

آیا میدانید اصفهان پایتخت شاهان صفوی ایران بدست کی فتح شد؟

سیدال خان ناصری خان سپه سالار، دیپلمات، شاعر و مبارز ملی.

«دستِ وحدت کاخ استبداد را ویران کند»

ابدال خان پدر محمد سیدال خان، در زمانی که سلطان ملخی توخی (سلطان ملخی توخی پدر نازو انا مادر میرویس خان هوتکی) استقلال خویش را حاصل نموده و از جلدک تا غزنی حکومت می کرد، همراه با خانواده و مردمش در آنجا اقامت گزید. ابدال خان همراه با عادل خان به مقابل بیگلر بیگی که از طرف دولت صفوی (ایران) گماشته شده بود، مبارزه می کرد و اجازه نداد که صفویان بر قلات حکومت نمایند.

سیدال خان که شجاعت، رشادت و بزرگمنشی را از پدر به ارث برده بود، در کسب علم و ادب نیز کوشا بود و فقه، تفسیر، صرف و نحو … و ادبیات دری را نیز فرا گرفت.

سیدال خان ناصری در طول سه دههٔ سلطنت هوتکی ها در مبارزات و فتوحات داخل و خارج از کشور یکی از ستون های اصلی و پایه های استوار حکومت بود که در بُعد نظامی کارنامه های تاریخیِ درخشان و ماندگار از خویش به یادگار گذاشته است.

از زمانی که در سال ۱۷۰۸ میلادی مطابق ۱۱۲۰ هجری قائد ملی میرویس خان هوتکی، بعد از اخذ فتوای علمای دینی، گورگین حاکم (بیگلر بیگی دولت صفوی ایران) خون آشام و سفاکِ دولت صفوی ایران در قندهار را سر به نیست نموده و دولت مستقل هوتکی را بنا نهاد، سیدال خان ناصری سرلشکر قوای افغان بود.

هنگامی که دولت صفویان غرض اشغال دوباره، به قندهار لشکر کشید، میرویس خان، سیدال خان ناصری را به مصاف آنها فرستاد که قوای صفوی را تار و مار کرد.

سیدال خان ناصری در تمام جنگ های دورهٔ ۸ سالهٔ رهبری میرویس خان علیه اشغالگران صفوی شامل بود که در همه جنگ ها فتح و پیروزی را از آن افغان ها ساخت .

بعد از وفات حاجی میرویس خان (۱۶۷۳ – ۱۷۱۵ میلادی)، نخست برادرش و سپس پسرش شاه محمود هوتکی به سلطنت رسید.

قوای شاه محمود هوتکی به سرلشکری امان الله سطان، سیدال خان ناصری و نصرالله خان … نخست به کرمان و سپس به اصفهان پایتخت دولت صفوی ایران یورش برد و آنرا فتح کرد.

به تاریخ ۲۳ اکتبر سال ۱۷۲۲ میلادی مطابق ۱۲ محرّم ۱۱۳۵ با گذاشتن تاج سلطانی بر سر شاه محمود هوتکی بدست شاه حسین صفوی، شهنشاهی افغان ها در ایران بنیاد گذاشته شد.

شاه محمود هوتکی در کاخ چهلستون اصفهان ضیافتی ترتیب داد که در ضمن آن با دختر شاه حسین صفوی ازدواج نمود.

به این ترتیب در نتیجهٔ وحدت و مبارزه در مدت کوتاهی میرویس خان هوتکی و اخلافش نه تنها سلطهٔ صفوی ها را در قندهار پایان داد بلکه سلسله پادشاهی صفوی ها را نیز ختم کرد.

شاه محمود هوتکی حدود ۹ سال سلطنت نمود که دونیم سال در ایران حکومت کرد. سپس به اثر مریضی روانی از قدرت خلع و بعد از وفاتش، پسر کاکایش، شاه اشرف هوتکی قدرت را بدست گرفت.

در تمام جنگ ها و مذاکراتِ شاه اشرف هوتکی در فارس مقابل ترک های عثمانی و روس ها، سیدال خان ناصری سرلشکر قوای افغان بود که در همهٔ جنگ ها و مذاکرات فاتح و پیروز بدر آمد. وی نقشه و پلان اشغال مناطقی از ایران توسط روسیه و ترکیهٔ عثمانی را خنثی نمود.

با ظهور شخصی به نام نادر افشار در ايران از یک طرف و اختلافات ذات البینی افغان ها از طرف دیگر، كار حكومت هوتکی ها در آن کشور با مشكل روبرو شد. لذا شاه اشرف و افغان ها از ايران عقب نشيني كردند. شاه اشرف درهنگام عقب نشيني در مربوطات شورابك كشته شد.

از اين پس تا سال ۱۷۳۹ میلادی حکومت هوتکی ها به قندهار منحصر شد که شاه حسین هوتکی جوانترین فرزند میرویس خان، که یک پادشاه ادیب و فرهنگدوست بود و به زبان های پشتو و دری شعر می سرود، حاکم آن بود.

زمانی که سیدال خان ناصری قندهار رسید از طرف شاه حسین هوتکی دوباره به منصب سپه سالار مقرر ګردید.

با تأسف که وقت به وی مجال نداد که قوای نظامی را آرایش لازم دهد ولی با آنهم تا نهایت از مقاومت باز نه ایستاد.

باری هم با ۳۰۰۰ قوا به کمک ابدالی های هرات رفت ولی مقابل لشکر بزرگ نادر افشار پیروزی بدست نیاورد.

قوای سیدال خان ناصری بیست هزار و قوای نادر افشار صدهزار بود.

سیدال خان حملات و شبیخون های متعددی به قوای دشمن وارد کرد و برای یکسال مانع ورود نادر افشار به قندهار گردید.

نادر افشار یک لشکر هشت هزار نفری را غرض گرفتن قلات فرستاد. غرض دفاع قلات یک قوای چهارهزار نفری به سرکردگی سیدال خان فرستاده شد که در ابتدا به دشمن ضربات شدید وارد نمود. زمانی که نادر افشار از موضوع حضور سیدال خان در این قوا اطلاع یافت با یک قوای پنجاه هزار نفری بدانجا رفت و سیدال خان مجبوراً در قلعه محاصره شد. نادر بعد از چند روز محاصره دوباره به صوب قندهار رفت ولی قوای سی هزار نفری قوای سیدال خان را محاصر نموده بود و دشمن تلاش می نمود تا قوای افغان را به بیرون آمدن از قلعه وادار نماید. قوای دشمن تا دو ماه نتوانست قلعه را بگشاید. دشمن که تسلیم شدن سیدال خان را کلید فتح قندهار میدانست به خدعهٔ‌ نامردانه ای دست زد. دشمن در بیرون قلعه خانم های افغان را از سینه ها آویزان نموده و مورد هر نوع توهین و تحقیر قرار میدادند تا سیدال خان و قوایش تسلیم شود.

سیدال خان که آبرو و عزت خانم های افغان از همه چیز برایش مهم بود و از طرفی هم آب و آذوقهٔ شان به پایان رسیده بود به قوای افغان امر توقف جنگ را داد.

سیدال خان این سردار رشید که از مردم و سرزمین افغان ها بیشتر از ۳۱ سال دفاع نموده بود بندی به مقابل نادر افشار آورده شد.

نادر افشار در جشن بزرگی که به این مناسبت براه انداخته بود در محضر عام چنین گفت:

و هردو چشم سیدال خان ناصری را با سیخ آتشین کور و وی را از نعمت دید محروم کرد.

نادر افشار غرض تیت و پاشان کردن مردم تعدادی را به ایران تبعید و سیدال خان ناصری و خانواده اش به منطقهٔ شکر درهٔ کابل فرستاده شد. بعد از مدتی سیدال خان ناصری در شکردره فوت و همانجا در سیاه سنگ به خاک سپرده شد.

شاه حسین هوتکی ده ماه دیگر نیز مقاومت کرد ولی بالاخر قندهار به دست نادر افشار افتاد .

این بود یادآوری بخش هایی از زندگی یک شخصیت ملی و وطندوست.

روح سیدال خان ناصری این مرد آزاده و آهنین و روح همهٔ مبارزین ملی که به دشمن سر خم نکردند شاد باد و مکانش بهشت معلی.

ناصر اوریا * ۲۳ سپتمبر ۲۰۲۰ – تکزاس Naser Oria

تاریخ

تاریخ افغانستان (پیش از اسلام)

افغانستان، اگرچه به‌عنوان یک کشور و یک ملت دارای تاریخی جدید است؛ اما، این سرزمین از لحاظ قدمت تاریخی، یکی از کهن‌ترین کشورهای جهان به‌شمار می‌رود.[۱]
افغانستان به دلیل قرارگرفتن در مسیر جاده ابریشم پیوندگاه تمدن‌های بزرگ جهان بوده و یکی از مهم‌ترین مراکز بازرگانی عصر باستان به‌شمار می‌رفته‌است. این موقعیت مهم و حساس ژئواستراتژیکی و ژئوپولیتیکی افغانستان در شکل‌دادن موزائیکی غنی از فرهنگ‌ها و تمدن‌های بزرگ همچون ایرانی، یونانی، بین‌النهرینی و هندی در این کشور نقش مهمی داشته‌است. از عصر پارینه‌سنگی و طی دوره‌های تاریخی، مردم افغانستان جایگاه عمده‌ای در معرفی و گسترش ادیان جهانی و نقش مهمی در بازرگانی و دادوستد داشته و گهگاه کانون مسلط سیاسی و فرهنگی در آسیا بوده‌اند. از این رو افغانستان در طول تاریخ گلوگاه یورش مهاجمان و جهان‌گشایان بوده که ردپای آن‌ها هنوز در گوشه و کنار این سرزمین دیده می‌شود.[۲]
همان‌طور که از میان‌رودان (بین‌النهرین؛ عراق امروزی) به‌سبب تمدن‌های کهن و باستانی‌اش به‌عنوان "گهوارهٔ تمدن"، و از مصر باستان به‌سبب اهرام باستانی‌اش به‌عنوان "عجایب دنیای باستان" خوانده می‌شود، از افغانستان نیز به‌سبب موقعیت مهم و حساس ژئواستراتژیکی و ژئوپولیتیکی‌اش و حضور موزائیکی غنی از فرهنگ‌ها و تمدن‌های بزرگ و تاریخ هزاران ساله به‌عنوان "چهارراهِ فرهنگ‌های باستان" یاد می‌شود.[۳][۴]
در این نوشتار دوران تاریخی پیش از اسلام افغانستان به دو دوره تقسیم می‌شود:
1. دوران پیشاتاریخ: دورانی که به‌سبب نبود خط و کتابت در آن معلومات زیادی از آن در دسترس نیست و فرضیات دانشمندان از این دوره تنها بر آثار بدست‌آمده از کاوش‌های باستان‌شناسی و مطالعات زبان‌شناسی استوار است؛ این دوران از دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین که در این دوره نخستین شواهد باستان‌شناسی از حضور انسان در شمال کوهپایه‌های هندوکُش در حدود ۱۰۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد به‌دست آمده، آغاز می‌شود، و تا پایان عصر بُرُنز و عصر آهن در اوایل سدهٔ هفتم پیش از میلاد (پیدایش خط) را در بر می‌گیرد؛
2. تاریخ باستان: دوران پس از پیدایش خط، که معلومات زیادی از آن در نوشته‌های کهن به جای مانده، و از دورهٔ فرمانروایی مادها و هخامنشیان در اوایل سدهٔ هفتم پیش از میلاد آغاز می‌شود، و تا حمله اعراب به افغانستان در سدهٔ هفتم میلادی را در بر می‌گیرد.
دوران پیشاتاریخ[
دوران پیشاتاریخ یا دوران پیش از تاریخ یا ماقبل تاریخ از پیدایش انسان آغاز می‌شود و به پیدایش خط و کتابت منتهی می‌گردد. در آن دوران تجربه‌ها و دستاوردهای مردم به سرعت از بین می‌رفت و دانش انتقال پیدا نمی‌کرد.
دوران پارینه‌سنگی[

نگارهٔ ۱: ابزارهای سنگی شامل انواع تیغه‌های کوچک، متعلق به دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی پایانی (۳۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد) که از قَرَه‌کَمَر در ولایت سمنگان، شمال افغانستان به‌دست آمده‌اند.
دوران پارینه‌سنگی[پ ۱] یا عصر حجر (سنگ) کهن، نخستین، ابتدایی‌ترین و طولانی‌ترین مرحله زندگی انسان است؛ از دو میلیون و پانصد هزار تا دورهٔ نوسنگی (عصر حجر نو)، زمانی که انسان با کشاورزی آشنا شد، در حدود دوازده هزار سال پیش را در بر می‌گیرد. این دوران خود به سه زیر دوره تقسیم می‌گردد:
1. دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین یا قدیم[پ ۲] یا دورهٔ دیرینه‌سنگی که از حدود دو میلون و پانصد هزار سال پیش شروع و تا یکصد هزار سال قبل ادامه پیدا می‌کند. در این دوره، گونه‌های اولیهٔ سردهٔ انسان (Homo) ظهور می‌کند، که از آتش استفاده می‌کرده و ابزار ساز بوده‌است. آثار دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین در آفریقا، شرق مدیترانه و اروپا پیدا شده‌است.[۵]
2. دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی میانی[پ ۳] یا دورهٔ میان‌سنگی-موسترین از حدود یکصد هزار سال قبل شروع و تا سی هزار سال پیش ادامه داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال در این دوره ظهور می‌کند. در این دوره، سنت ابزارسازی موسترین[پ ۴] پدیدار می‌شود که از ابزارهای پیشین پیشرفته‌تر است و شامل تراشه‌های سنگی، رنده‌ها، قلم‌ها، برمه‌ها (مته‌ها)، چاقوهای دسته‌دار و انواع تبر بوده‌است. در این دوره آیین تدفین وجود داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال به همراه متوفی ابزار، گُل و گِل اخرا دفن می‌کرده‌است. بر اساس نظریهٔ خروج از آفریقا و با توجه به شواهد ژنتیکی و فسیلی، انسان خردمند[پ ۵] در این دوره، حدود هفتاد هزار سال پیش از خاستگاهش در قاره آفریقا خارج می‌شود و از طریق تنگهٔ آبی باب‌المندب در قسمت جنوبی دریای سرخ به قارهٔ آسیا پا گذاشته و از آنجا به دیگر نقاط زمین مهاجرت می‌کند.[۶]
3. دوره پارینه‌سنگی پایانی[پ ۶]-بارادوستین از حدود پنجاه هزار سال پیش شروع و در ده هزار سال پیش پایان می‌گیرد. در این دوره انسان نئاندرتال از بین می‌رود و انسان خردمند در آسیای میانه پدیدار می‌گردد، و بدین‌ترتیب این منطقه را به یکی از قدیمی‌ترین منزلگاه‌های انسان تبدیل می‌کند.
دوران پارینه‌سنگی افغانستان
فاصلهٔ زمانی زیاد، دیدگاهمان را راجع به پیدایش نخستین مردمان در افغانستان، که در تراس‌های رودخانه‌ها و غارهای زیستگردار و پناهگاه‌های صخره‌ای در شمال و شرق این کشور امروزی می‌زیستند تار می‌کند. صدها ابزار سنگی در ساحه‌های متعدد در دشت و صحرا پراکنده شده‌اند - ابزاری چون ابزار کوارتزی متعلق به دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین (تبرهای دستی، چاقوهای دسته‌دار و تراشه‌ها) با قدمتی بیش از ۱۰۰٫۰۰۰ ساله - گواهی است بر موجودیت فعالیت‌های منظم انسان در ابتدایی‌ترین بُرهه‌های تاریخی. اسکلت انسان نِئاندِرتال در طی اواسط دههٔ هفتاد میلادی در درهٔ کور در بدخشان، و همچنین استخوان گیجگاهی بزرگی یافت شده‌اند که به عقیدهٔ دانشمندان می‌بایست متعلق به انسان امروزی با ویژگی‌های نئاندرتالی باشد. لوئی دوپری، باستان‌شناس دانشگاه پنسیلوانیا راجع به کشف درهٔ کور می‌گوید:
شمال افغانستان شاید منطقه‌ای باشد که هوموساپینس‌های امروزی، یا دست کم گونه‌ای از انسان امروزی، از نظر فیزیکی و جسمانی تحول پیدا کرده و شروع به متحول کردن فناوری عصر حجر کردند.
اما با حملهٔ شوروی به افغانستان در ۱۹۷۹ میلادی کاوش‌های باستان‌شناسی را که احتمالاً می‌توانست این فرضیهٔ شگفت‌انگیز را تأیید کند، متوقف ساخت.
در شمال افغانستان، از بلخ تا سرحد پاکستان، شواهدی روشن بر فرهنگ‌های عصر حجر، عصر نوسنگی و عصر بُرُنز اولیه موجود است. در یک پناهگاه صخره‌ای در قَره‌کَمَر، در ۱۴ مایلی شمال سمنگان ابزاری متعلق به عصر حجر با قدمتی حدود ۳۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد به‌دست آمده‌اند. (نگارهٔ ۱) بیشتر از ۲۰٫۰۰۰ ابزار سنگی بدست‌آمده از آق‌کُپرُک (در ولایت بلخ) آنچنان ماهرانه ساخته شده‌اند که باستان‌شناسان اغلب از سازندگان این ابزار در آق‌کُپرُک به عنوان «میکل‌آنجلوهای دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی فوقانی» یاد می‌کنند. آثار بدست‌آمده از آق‌کُپرُک متعلق به یک دورهٔ فرهنگی است که ۵۰۰۰ سال، از حدود ۲۰٫۰۰۰ تا ۱۵٫۰۰۰ سال پیش طول کشید. در دوره‌ای که هنرمندی ناشناس چهرهٔ یک مرد (یا یک زن؟) بر روی سنگ آهک کوچکی تراشیده - و یکی از نخستین ترسیم‌های چهرهٔ انسان ساخت دست است که به ما رسیده‌است. (نگارهٔ ۲)

نگارهٔ ۲: سردیسی از انسان از آق‌کُپرُک، در ولایت بلخ، شمال افغانستان، پیرامون ۲۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد - نخستین ترسیم چهرهٔ انسان که تا اکنون در افغانستان کشف شده‌است.
اگرچه ترسیم‌هایی دیگر از استخوان و سفال در چکسلواکیا و فرانسه در دوره‌ای مشابه ساخته شده‌اند، اما بقایای حجاری‌های آق‌کُپرُک هنوز یکی از قدیمی‌ترین ترسیم‌های شناخته‌شده از چهرهٔ انسان است که تا به کنون کشف شده‌است. اما چرا این کنده‌کاری صورت گرفته؟ شاید پاسخ این پرسش را هرگز نیابیم.
دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین افغانستان ابزارهای مربوط به دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین با قدمت بیش از ۱۰۰ هزار سال پیش در دشت ناوُر در غرب غزنی پیدا شده‌است. این ابزار شامل تعدادی ابزار سنگی ساخته شده از کوارتز است که شامل تراشه، ساطور، رنده، تیشه و تبر ابزار هستند. این آثار نخستین شواهد بدست‌آمده از دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی زیرین در افغانستان هستند.[۷]
دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی میانی افغانستان (۳۰٫۰۰۰–۵۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد): آثار بدست‌آمده از درهٔ کور (کُر)، در غرب بدخشان، نخستین شواهد آشکار زیستگاه‌های انسان را در افغانستان نشان می‌دهد. طی کاوش‌هایی در درهٔ کور در سال ۱۹۴۴ توسط لوئی دوپری و همکارانش، ابزارهای موسترین و جمجمهٔ انسان نئاندرتال به‌دست آمده که مربوط به دورهٔ میان‌سنگی بوده و عمر آن را ۳۰ هزار سال پیش تخمین زده‌اند.[۸] از دیگر پایگاه‌های باستان‌شناسی مربوط به این دوره می‌توان از درهٔ چخماخ (در ولایت بلخ)، درهٔ دادِل (در ولایت بلخ)، دشت ناوُر (در ولایت غزنی)، غارِ مُرده‌گوسفند (در ولایت فاریاب)، حَیرَتان (در ولایت سمنگان)، قَرَه‌کَمَر (در ولایت سمنگان)، کِشم (در ولایت بدخشان)، سَرِ نمک (در ولایت سمنگان) و زَمبوکَن (در ولایت بلخ) نام برد.
دورهٔ پارینه‌سنگی فوقانی افغانستان (۱۰٫۰۰۰–۱۵٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد): آثار به‌دست آمده از این دوره در آق‌کُپرُک (در ولایت بلخ)، درهٔ کلان (در ولایت سمنگان)، حَیرَتان (در ولایت سمنگان)، اسلام‌پنجه (در ولایت جوزجان)، کِلِفت (در ولایت بلخ)، کوک‌جَر (در ولایت سمنگان)، و سَرِ نمک (در ولایت سمنگان) یافت شده‌اند.[۹]
دورهٔ فراپارینه‌سنگی افغانستان (۸٫۰۰۰–۱۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد) آثار به‌دست آمده از این دوره در آق‌کُپرُک (در ولایت بلخ)، باد آسیا؟ (در ولایت بدخشان)، بهارک؟ (در ولایت بدخشان)، برخَنِ زادیان (در ولایت بلخ)، درهٔ کلان (در ولایت سمنگان)، هزارسُم (در ولایت سمنگان)، قَرَه‌کَمَر (در ولایت سمنگان)، لَنگارکیش؟ (در ولایت بدخشان)، رحمان‌گُل (در ولایت بدخشان)، سَندوکتی (در ولایت جوزجان)، شاه‌تپه (در ولایت سمنگان)، سیاه‌ریگان (در ولایت سمنگان)، تاش‌گُذر (در ولایت فاریاب)، تاشقورغان (در ولایت سمنگان) و اوچ‌تپه (در ولایت بلخ) یافت شده‌اند.[۹]
دورهٔ نوسنگی
(۴۰۰۰–۸۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد)
دورهٔ نوسنگی واپسین مرحلهٔ عصر حجر است و قبل از عصر فلزات یعنی عصر مس (Chalcolithic)، عصر بُرُنز (۴۰۰۰–۸۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد) و عصر آهن (۷۰۰–۱۵۰۰ پیش از میلاد) آغاز می‌گردد. در دورهٔ نوسنگی، در برخی نواحی خاور میانه، انسان در حدود ۱۱ هزار سال پیش، از مرحله جمع‌آوری و شکار به مرحله کشت و اهلی کردن انتقال یافت. به این خاطر دورهٔ نوسنگی را «عصر کشاورزی» نیز دانسته‌اند.[۱۰]
در سال ۱۹۶۵ دکتر لوئی دوپری در نتیجه کاوش‌های خود در آق‌کُپرُک، در جنوب مزار شریف و کنار بلخ‌آب، آثاری را به دست آورد که براساس شواهد اهلی‌ساختن حیوانات در این دوره، متعلق به دورهٔ نوسنگی است.[۱۱]
از دیگر پایگاه‌های باستان‌شناسی مربوط به دورهٔ نوسنگی می‌توان از چاش‌بابا (در ولایت جوزجان)، چیلیکِ قُل (در ولایت جوزجان)، چیلیکِ یَلدَش (در ولایت جوزجان)، چیلیکِ یاس‌خان (در ولایت جوزجان)، گورزیوان (در ولایت فاریاب)، هزارسُم (در ولایت سمنگان)، جَرقودوق (در ولایت جوزجان)، کَوک (در ولایت جوزجان)، خواجه دوکوه (در ولایت فاریاب)، خواجه دوکوه نو (در ولایت فاریاب)، کیلیفت (در ولایت بلخ)، لَیرو؟ (در ولایت زابل)، قاق (در ولایت فاریاب)، قاقِ نظارآغا (در ولایت فاریاب)، قره‌قُل (در ولایت جوزجان)، قَره‌تپه (در ولایت سمنگان)، قورقودوق (در ولایت جوزجان)، سَفَروال (در ولایت جوزجان) و سیدآباد (در ولایت جوزجان) نام برد.[۹]
زمین‌های کشاورزی با قدمتی ۲۰٫۰۰۰–۳۰٫۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد، که در هزار سُم و در کوهپایه‌های هندوکش یافت شده‌اند، این واقعیت را تأیید می‌کنند که شمال افغانستان یکی از نخستین جایگاه‌های حیوانات و گیاهان خانگی بوده‌است؛ و بعدها، روستاهای زراعی، با قدمتی ۵٫۰۰۰–۷٫۰۰۰ سال پیش از میلاد، در نزدیکی تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی (پشتو: دِه‌مُراسی غوندَی) در ولایت قندهار، دورهٔ تحول انسان را نشان می‌دهد که روستاهایی با زمین‌های کشاورزی پدیدار شده و جایش را به شهرهای کوچک داده‌است. در این دوران، شواهدی از فرهنگ عصر بُرُنز به وفور پدیدار می‌شود.
در این دوره، در حدود ۷۰۰۰ سال پیش از میلاد، دهقانان و چوپانانی در جلگه‌های حاصلخیز پیرامون هندوکُش زندگی می‌کردند. این مردمان صنعت ابتدائی خانه‌سازی با خشت خام و سفالگری را با خود به همراه آوردند و بعدها، در عصر مس (Chalcolithic)، از فروش لاجورد (Lapis lazuli) که در سواحل و بستر رودخانه‌ها می‌یافتند و تجارت آن به کشورهای اولیه باختری از طریق فلات ایران و میان‌رودان ثروتمند می‌شدند.[۱۲]
عصر بُرُنز و عصر آهن
(عصر برنز: ۱۵۰۰–۴۰۰۰ ق.م. عصر آهن: ۷۰۰–۱۵۰۰ ق. م)

نگارهٔ ۳: تندیس‌های ایزدبانوان مادر از مُندیگَک (چپ) و تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی (راست)، گِل پُخته، ولایت قندهار، هزارهٔ سوم پیش از میلاد.

نگارهٔ ۴: سنگ لاجوَرد (لاتین: Lapis lazuli) نوعی سنگ قیمتی آبی‌رنگ است که تنها در افغانستان یافت می‌شود[۱۳] ولی از هزاران سال پیش در جهان خواهان زیادی داشته‌است. این سنگ در جواهرات فراعنهٔ مصر باستان، هنر خاور نزدیک باستان و تا هنر رنسانسِ ایتالیا به چشم می‌خورد. وجود ده‌ها تُن سنگ لاجورد بکارفته در گنجینه‌های شاهان میان‌رودان (بین‌النهرین) و فراعنهٔ مصر باستان نشان‌دهندهٔ این واقعیت است که این سنگ قیمتی در آن عصر در اوج مُد بوده و نیاکان باشندگان افغانستان در تجارت و بازرگانی در عصر بُرُنز نقش پویایی داشتند. همچنین ضرورت انتقال این همه سنگ لاجورد از افغانستان به خاور نزدیک و مصر گواه بر موجودیت امکانات و تأسیسات پیشرفتهٔ بین راهی در آن عصر است. سمت چپ، بالا: نمونه‌ای از سنگ لاجوَرد. سمت چپ، پایین: لاجورد بکار رفته در یکی از زیورآلات توت‌عنخ‌آمون، یکی از فراعنهٔ مقتدر مصر باستان، ۱۳۵۲–۱۳۶۱ پیش از میلاد. سمت راست: لاجوَردِ بکار رفته در «قوچ در یک بیشه»، بدست‌آمده از مقبره‌های شاهی شهر باستانی اور، میان‌رودان (بین‌النهرین) باستان، عراق امروزی، ۲۵۰۰–۲۶۰۰ پیش از میلاد.
فرهنگ عصر بُرُنز (عصر مِفرَغ) اولیه در شمال و شرق افغانستان پدید آمد. در عصر برنز سه تمدن باختر-مرو (که گاه 'تمدن آمودریا' نامیده می‌شود)، درهٔ سِند و جیرُفت (تمدنی نیاعیلامی) در افغانستان اثرگذار بودند.[۱۴] (نقشهٔ ذیل را ببینید). نخستین شواهد واقعی شهری‌سازی در تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی (پشتو: دِه‌مُراسی غوندَی) و مندیگَک (در نزدیکی قندهار امروزی) پدیدار گشت، که پایتخت‌های محلی تمدن دره سند بودند. اقتصاد بر اساس گندم، جو، دامداری و معدن‌کاری استوار بود. سنگ لاجوَرد که در گورهای پادشاهان اور در جنوب عراق، پیرامون ۲۵۰۰–۲۶۰۰ پیش از میلاد، بکار رفته بود از بدخشان در شمال‌شرق افغانستان در همان دوره استخراج شده بود. همچنین شبکهٔ راه زمینی بازرگانی دوربردی با میان‌رودان (بین‌النهرین) و مصر ایجاد شده بود. با اینکه بسیاری از آثار ساحه‌های چون دشت دَشلی به غارت رفته، آثار بسیار زیاد دیگری نیز کشف شده، و آثار بیشتری انتظار می‌رود در این ساحه‌ها پیدا شوند. در طی جستجوهای باستان‌شناسان برای یافتن تمدن، آن‌ها در مُندیگک (در نزدیکی قندهار امروزی) شواهدی از یک شهر واقعی پیدا کردند، و شواهدی از بناها و اشیائی که شهرهای واقعی برجای می‌مانند: بناهای مذهبی و آثار هنری حجاری‌شده و نقاشی شده. در مندیگک، باستان‌شناسان بنای ستون‌دار بزرگی متعلق به هزارهٔ سوم پیش از میلاد کشف کردند که درگاهش با خط سرخ ترسیم شده بود، و احتمالاً برای اهداف مذهبی بنا شده بود. در تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی، باستان‌شناسان مجموعه‌ای از یک زیارتگاه را پیدا کردند که حاوی اشیایی بود متعلق به مراسم مذهبی همچون شاخ‌های بُز، یک کاسه، مُهر مِسی، لولهٔ مسی توخالی، جام کوچکی از سنگ مرمر، و یک تندیس سفال‌گری‌شده و کنده‌کاری‌شده از یک ایزدبانوی مادر (نگارهٔ ۳) و تندیسی که نشانهٔ فراوانی بوده و مشابه تندیس‌هایی بود که در مندیگک نیز یافت شده بودند. عاقبت تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی در حدود ۱۵۰۰ پیش از میلاد متروکه شد، شاید به دلیل تغییر مسیر رودخانه به‌سوی غرب که تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی آنجا بنا شده بود. مندیگک برای ۵۰۰ سال دیگر نیز دوام پیدا کرد. دو هجوم پیاپی قومی کوچ‌نشین از سوی شمال باشندگان این ساحه‌ها را بعد از ۲۰۰۰ سال زیست مداومشان در این شهر مجبور به ترک آن شدند. زمانیکه باستان‌شناسان در افغانستان تمدن‌های باستانی را در مندیگک و دِه‌مُراسی کاوش می‌کردند، نزدیک به سه هزار کیلومتر آنطرفتر در غرب، در شهر باستانی اور در جنوب عراق، یک تیم دیگر از باستان‌شناسان زمانی که جواهر و آثار کشف‌شدهٔ دیگر یافت‌شده از مقبره‌های شاهی (حدود ۲۴۰۰ پیش از میلاد) را مطالعه می‌کردند، به آثار چشمگیر دیگری برخوردند. بیش از بیست هزار مُهره‌های ساخته‌شده از سنگ لاجوَرد از مقبره‌های شاهی بیرون کشیده شده بودند که همگی دقیقاً ترکیب معدنی یکسانی داشتند؛ بدین معنا که همگی از یک معدن استخراج شده بودند. در واقع، پس از بررسی‌های گسترده، به این نتیجه رسیدند که تقریباً هر یک از این لاجوردهای بکاررفته در جواهرات شاهانِ خاور نزدیک باستان (نگارهٔ ۴) - که هزاران کیلو سنگ لاجوَرد بود - همگی از یک رشته‌کوه آمده بودند، معدن سرِ سنگ در اعماق هندوکش افغانستان.
انتقال این همه سنگ لاجورد از افغانستان تا میان‌رودان (بین‌النهرین)، و حتی تا مصر (جایی که این سنگ آبی‌رنگ به عنوان اوج مُد انگاشته می‌شد)، و حمل اجناس قیمتی از آنطرف (همچون طلا، مس، سنگ‌های قیمتی، چوب و حیوانات غیر بومی) بدون تدارکات لجستیکی پیشرفته و مجموعه‌ای از امکانات و تأسیسات بین راهی امکان نداشت. همان‌طور که شواهد باستان‌شناسی نشان می‌دهد، تمدن دوران هزارهٔ چهارم و سوم پیش از میلاد هیچ خلأئی را در پهناوری دنیای ارتباطی و تجاری که میان‌رودان را با هند و چین وصل می‌کرده، باقی نگذاشته‌است. در ۴۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد، شکل‌های اولیه از زندگی شهری با فرهنگ‌های خاص در بازه‌های زمانی منظم رونق پیدا کرد، که نمونهٔ آن جاپاهای سنگی، در سرتاسر آسیای میانه است؛ بنابراین لاجوَردی که از معادن سرِ سنگ در افغانستان به شهرهای بزرگی چون اور در ۲۴۰۰ پیش از میلاد می‌رسید و در امتداد راه‌های تجاری حمل می‌شد، مبادلهٔ آن هزاران سال پیش از آن فعال بوده‌است. برعکس تمدن‌های میان‌رودان، مصر یا درهٔ سند، در تمدن‌های آسیای میانه، رودهای برتری برای تمرکز دادنِ مردم، منابع و مبادلات در مسیر کوه تا اقیانوس وجود نداشت. با این وجود، آمیزشی بزرگ از مردمان متنوع و جوامع مستقل در این سرزمین‌های دورافتاده برخاستند - یک شهرنشینی ناپیوسته که در آن کمبود آب و شرایط اقلیمی سخت معمول بوده‌است.
آثار به‌دست آمده از عصر بُرُنز در افغانستان (۱۵۰۰–۴۰۰۰ پیش از میلاد) در اکرم‌قلعه (در ولایت هلمند)، علی‌آباد (در ولایت کُندوز)، آق‌کُپرُک (در ولایت بلخ)، اَرَنجی (در ولایت جوزجان)، اَیَتان‌تپه (در ولایت سمنگان)، باد سه‌غوندَی (در ولایت قندهار)، باغِ پول‌غوندی (در ولایت قندهار)، بَرَگ‌توت (در ولایت فراه)، باسیز (در ولایت کُندوز)، بوئینه‌قره (در ولایت بلخ)، چادُرتپه (در ولایت بلخ)، چارسنگ‌تپه (در ولایت قندهار)، چولِ آبدان (در ولایت کُندوز)، دَم (در ولایت نیمروز)، درهٔ کور (در ولایت بدخشان)، دَشلی ۱ (در ولایت جوزجان)، دشلی ۳ (در ولایت جوزجان)، دشلی شرقی (در ولایت جوزجان)، دشلی جنوبی (در ولایت جوزجان)، تپهٔ دِه‌مُراسی (در ولایت قندهار)، ده نو (در ولایت سمنگان)، فرخ‌آباد (در ولایت بلخ)، گردان‌ریگ (در ولایت نیمروز)، هیردای‌تپه (در ولایت فاریاب)، قندهار، خوش‌بای (در ولایت تخار)، خوش‌تپه (تپه فُلول) (در ولایت بغلان)، کهنه قلعه طالقان (در ولایت تخار)، لَیرو (در ولایت زابل)، مُندیگَک (در ولایت قندهار)، مُندی‌حصار (در ولایت قندهار)، قونسای (در ولایت کُندوز)، قورغان‌تپه (در ولایت تخار)، سعید قلعه‌تپه (در ولایت قندهار)، سسماق (در ولایت تخار)، شهر صفا (در ولایت زابل)، شیرآباد (در ولایت سمنگان)، شورتوغَی (در ولایت تخار)، سیاه‌ریگان (در ولایت سمنگان)، اِسپیروَن (در ولایت قندهار)، تیکَر (در ولایت فاریاب) و اورته‌بُز (در ولایت تخار) یافت شده‌اند. (نقشهٔ بالا را ببینید)[۹]

تاریخ

A POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN

1863-1901

M. HASSAN KAKAR

BEG/ D

1 6 g 3

BRILL

LEIDEN • BOSTON

2006

On he coW: Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan

This book is printed on acid-free paFr.

Ubrary Of Congress Cataloging-in-PubEcaGon Data

Kakar, M. Hassan.

A political and diplomatic history or Afghanistan, 1863-1901 / Mohammad Hassan

cm. - (Brill's Inner Asian library ; v. 1 7)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15185-7

ISBN-10: 90-04-15185-0 (hardback : alk. paper)

and government— 19th century. 2. relations. I. Title. Il. *rics.

DS364.K35 2006

958.1'03—dc22

2006043934

ISSN 1566-7162

ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15185-7

ISBN-10•. 90-04-15185-0

O Copyrght 2006 by Koninkljke BrillNV, [Æiden, The Netherlands

Konink19ke .NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academe Hblishers, Martinus JVjhoff hbhshers and VSE

All r*hts reserved. No part of this publication mgy be reprduced, stored in a retrieval or transmitted in anyform or by ay means, elu&onic, mechanual, photocopying, recording or omau.'ig, u,'iåout FmissOnfrom publisher.

Authorization to photocopy itemsfr inurnal or personal We granted by Brill the appmphaußs are paid directly to The

C„karante Cmter, 222 Ibiz:e, Suite 910 M,' 01923, USA.

Fees are subßt charge.

To my teachers and professors especially the late Najm al-Din Tarakay of the high school in Laghman and Malcolm Edward Yapp of the University of London.

CONTENTS

Preface

Other books and translation of books by M. H. Kakar		x
Abbreviations . Introduction .	PART ONE POLITICAL HISTORY	x
Chapter One:	The Reign of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan	9
Chapter Two:	The British Afghan War and the Accession or Amir al-Rahman
	Khan	25
Chapter Three:	The Afghan Victory at Maiwand
	and the Reunification of Afghanistan	45
Chapter Four:	The Pacification of Eastern
	Afghanistan	63
Chapter Five:	The Great Ghilzay Uprising and its
	Suppression	87
Chapter Six:	The Revolt of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq
	and its Suppression	96
Chapter Seven:	The Pacification of Border Principalities
	in Northern Afghanistan	106
Chapter Eight:	The Pacification of the Hazaras	120
Chapter Nine:	The Conquest of Former Kafiristan PART •rwo EXTERNAL RELATIONS	139
Chapter Ten:	Relations with the British Government
	of India and the Durand Agreement	159
Chapter Eleven:	Relations with Rus.sia and the Russian
	Occupation of Panjdeh	193
Chapter Twelve:	Relations with Persia and the Ottoman
	Turkey	210

CONTENTS

Conclusion 217 Appendices 231

241

Glossary 247 Index 251

PREFACE

My first work in English entitled, Afghanistan, A Study in Internal Political Developments, was published in 1971. It covered only sixteen years of the 21-year reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan (pronounced Abdur Rahman) and was based only on the unpublished and published documents of the British Government of India, which I had collected from the India Offce Library and Records in London (now a part of the British Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections), for my M.Phil. thesis.

In the following years of the 1970s, I overhauled the entire 1971 publication on the basis of new sourcc material that I had obtained from the archival centers in Kabul and New Delhi. The Afghan offcial chronicle, Siraj al-Tawarikh, became another valuable source which was not available to me in London. I completed the revision of the 1971 work at Princeton and Harvard universities where I served as a visiting Fellow. These new sources enabled me to cover the entire reign of the amir, not only politically but diplomatically also, and to add some new topics as described in the Introduction of the present study. Subsequently, I revised the previously overhauled 1971' text on the basis of two important books: Sirdar Abdul Qadir Effendi's Royals and Royal Mendicant (1948?) and Major General Sir Charles M. MacGregor's War in Afghanistan, 1879—80 (1985).

I have performed the revision of my original study over an extended period of time, in line with the advice of Socrates, who had advised that the lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him."l As a result of the thoroughness of this revision, the excellence of the historical sources, and my specialist knowledge of the subject, it is now possible to state that the national as well as the local history, of Afghanistan during this period (1863—1901) has become clearer than its history, during any other comparable period.

I would like to express my thanks to Stanley Barton for reading the entire manuscript and offering valuable editorial suggestions.

Plato, The Trial and Death Of Socrates, Translated by Grube, C. M. Hacket Publishing Co. Indianapolis, Cambridge, 1975, 18.

OTHER BOOKS AND TRANSLATION OF BOOKS BY M. H. KAKAR

In English

Afghanistan, A Study in Internal Political Developments, 1880—1896 (l .971)

Government and Society in Afghanistan, The Reign of Arnir ^tAbd al-Rahman Khan (1979)

Afghanistan, The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979—1982 ( 1995)

In Pashto

The Geneva Compromise on Afghanistan (1988)

Afghans in the Spring Of 1987 at War with the Russians (1990)

L.ight and Defense or Essays on the Population, History and Current Affairs Of Afghanistan, Editor (1999)

Journey to the Homeland; Taliban and Islamic Fundamentalism, (2004)

The Reign of King Aman Allah Reconsidered (2005)

In Dari

Afghan, Afghanistan and Afghans and the Organization or the State in India, Persia and Afghanistan (1978)

The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1989)

Translation

(Pashto or Dari)

Gorky on Literature (1961)

What is History? E. H. Carr, author (1968)

The Real World of Democracy, C. B. McPherson, author (1971)

Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 2 vols., M. Elphinstone, author (1982)

Introduction to the Philosoehy of Education, George Knclle, author (2002)

Manuscript in Pashto

Journal of Political Developments, 1979— 1982

ARAMFA	The Archives of the Royal Afghan Ministry• of Foreign Affairs, Kabul
BACA	Biographical Accounts of Chiefs, Sardars and others of Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1888
BSOAS	Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
CD	Chitral Agency Diary
DSCD	Dir, Swat, Chitral Agency Diary
GAK (1895)	Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Kabul, pt. 4, 1895
GD	Gilgit Agency Diary
IGA	Imperial Gazetteer of India, Afghanistan and Nepal, (Calcutta, 1908)
IOL	India Offce Library, Commonwealth Relations Offce, London
HD	Herat Diarv
Kand. D	Kandahar Diary Kabul Diary
Kh.D.	Khyber Agency Diary
Maia. D.	Malakand Agency Diary

ABBREVIATIONS*

Monthly Memorandum

Military Report ori Afghanistan, (Calcutta, 1906)

MRA (1925) Military Report on Afghanistan, (Delhi, 1925)

NAI National Archives of India, Delhi Peshawar Agency Diary

PNEA Papers relating to Afghanistan, Narrative of Events in Afghanistan, 1878—1880

PSI-I Political and Secret Letters and Enclosures Received fin London] from India

References to the records without ARAMFA or NAI indicate recor& of the India Omce Library, and Commonwealth Relations Offce, now a part of the British library, London.

Archival sources are cited without special marks while their volumes and pages are cited only by their numbers. The pattern Of the archival sources varies toward the end of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman's reign. Siraj al-Tawa+ikh without the mention of volume refer-s to its third volume which is devoted entirely to the sixteen years of the amir's reign.

ABBREVIATIONS

SJD Sawal wa Jawab-e-Dawlati (Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman's interviews with the viceroy of India), Mohammad Nabi, (author), Kabul 1915

(T) Telegram

This work begins with the death of Amir Dost .\lohammad KhaJ1 in 1863 and ends Lhc death of Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan in 1901. It is an in depth study of the political history and external relations of Afghanistan during the second reign of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan and thc entire reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan (pronounced Abdur Rahman), who ruled from July 20, 1880 to OC',ober 2, 1901. The reigns of these two amirs were characterized by their efforts in centralizing and consolidating state order as never before. It was also during their reigns that the boundaries of Afghanistan were internationally agreed for the first time in its long history albeit to its disadvantage. The centralization efforts also became significant because they became a model for their succes•ors.

The introductory remarks of this study begin with the reign of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, who founded the Mohammadzay dynasty following a long period of civil war, which broke out after the Sadozay dynasty fell from power, in 1818. He was the father of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, and the grandfather of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, and these three figures were the giant players of nineteenthcentury Afghanistan. The Sadozays and Mohammadzays, who played a pivotal role in the history of modern Afghanistan for almost two and a half centuries (1747—1978) were respectively sections of the Popalzay and Barakzay divisions of the Pashtun Durranay tribal confederation, while the Pashtuns have dominated the political scene of the country in modern times. ^I

The Pashtuns (or Pakhtuns) also caned the Afghans, and the Pathans are among the ancient inhabitants of Afghanistan, constituting lin91istically fifty five and genealogically two percent of the present population or the country. The Tajiks, the Hazaras, Uzbeks, the Turkmen, the Char Aimaq and others are the other ethnic goups of the country. (Wak Foundation of Afghanistan, Ethnic Composition of Afghanistan, Sapay Center for Pashto Research and Development, Peshawar, 1998, 62, 73).

The name 'Pashtun' is probably the 'Pakthas' of the Vedic period, which Hendotus in the fifth century B.C.E. recorded as "Påctyes% in the inhabitants of "the Pactyic country, north of the rest of India," who, he States, "live much like the Bactrians." The word Afghan appears in ancient Indian, Persian and Chinese

Dost .Nlohammad Khan assumed power first as the governor of Kabul in 1826 and later as the amir of Afghanistan, in 1834, but the British deported him to India in 1840 after they had invaded Afghanistan in 1838. The invasion resulted in a full-scale war

sources as 'Asvaka'. 'Asva-Ghana', 'Abgan', 'Apakan', 'Avagana', •Ap-o-kicn' and, finally, 'Afghan•. The Persian-speaking people still pronouncc 'Afghan' as 'Aoghan'. In modern times the word 'Afghan' has come to signify all of thc inhabitants or Afghanistan.

According to many authors, the name •Pathan' is derived from •Pakhtana', the plural of 'Pakhtun'. However, this docs not seem to bc true as the name has come into use since the twelfth century in India when some Pashtuns sctded in the Patna district in the Bahar province. The Indians then called them, according to the historian hrishta, as •Pathan' after Patna.

Although the Pashtuns are genealogy-conscious they have no written records of their ancestors. Herodotus mentions Gandaharii, Aparytae, and Sittagydae, names that may refer to the inhabitants of Gandahara, Apriday (or Afriday), and the Khattak. But according to one legend, the present-day Pashtuns are the descendants of a person known as Qays, who may have lived in and around the Kisay Char, or in Ghor, in western Afghanistan in the seventh century. This Qays, according to the legend, v•isited the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, who named him QAys %Abd al-Rashid.

The name •Qays' is probably the Arabicized form of 'Kisay', a name that signifies a series of ranges that came to be known in the Islamic period the 'Sulaiman Mountains', described by Morgenstieme "as the earliest known home of the Afghans." 'Kisay' was probably also the given name of the person in question, and that he changed it to Qays 'Abd al-Rashid under the Islamic impulse, as was common practice in Islamic Afghanistan. The change Of Isapzai or Asapzai to Yusufzay is another example of this type.

Groups of people have also related themselves to the Arabs. The Shinwaray Pashtuns, for example, formerly called themselves sods—that is, the descendants of the Prophet, Muhammad, through his daughter, Fatima. Even Pashto has been consi&red by some to a Semitic language. Ihe Kam tribe of the former Kahristan too that they were related to the Quraysh tribe to which the Prophet, Muhænmad, belonged. These associations were made because in Islamic Afghanistan thc sayedJ were (and still are) respected, and the govcrnment paid them as well as the mullas and religious leaders (pi'S) allowances. Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, however, compelled the sayycds to present the firmans on the basis of which they received allowances. Since only a few could, he discontinued the allowances, saying, "I am tired of these Soyids (sic). How is it that the soyids arc found in such large numbers everywhere? I can not accept the genealogical table of any of them". In general, it is probably imposible for Afghan sgyyds to prow hat they are Arabs by descent.

Qays 'Abd al-Rashid had four sons: Beett (or Beettnai), Ghorghasht, Sarbun, and Korla. The contradiction is obvious between these names and the name •Abd al Rashid'. If •Qays' had converted to Islam, as the legend says he had, he certainly would have given his sons Muslim names, not purely Pashto names such as these. Also, how can the descendants of one person multiply in the course of fourteen centuries to about forty million known souls of the present day Pashtuns, who now Eve on both sides of the Durand Line? Recendy (1976), Afghan historian, Ahmad •Ali Kohzad, has advanced the view according to which Beett, Ghorghasht, and Sarbun were the illustrious ancestors and heroes of the Pashtuns in the Avestan

(1838—1841) that came to be known in the Afghan sources as the First Anglo-Afghan war and in the English annals as thc Afghan war. After the British had lost more than 16, 500 soldiers and their Indian camp followers, and that the war had ended, they allowed Dost Mohammad Khan to return to Afghanistan. Upon his return home in 1843 he assumed power once again as an independent amir and ruled the country until his death in June 1863. By the time of his death he had reunited the fragmented country more by statesmanship than by force, and reorganized the shattered economy and the government along traditional lines. The Afghanistan that he ruled stretched from the Oxus River (Amu Darya) to the territories up to Peshawar. Dost Mohammad Khan was assisted by his numerous sons and grandsons some of whom served as provincial governors, known as sardars ('persons in command; general'), and governed almost autonomously, subject only to Amir dost Mohammad Khan.

After the heir-apparent, Sardar Sher 'Ali Khan (b. 1822), became amir some of the provincial governors rebelled. The rebellion lasted interrnittendy for four years (1864—1868) during which time Afghanstan

period who were then known respectively by the names Of Atratt, Gharshasib, and Sarand

According to the aforementioned legend, the present-day di'Åsions of Pashtuns descended from the first three sons; for example, the Durranays (formerly called Awdaul or Abdaul), the Barezh, the Tarin, the Ghoryakhel, and the Yusufzays are said to descended from Sarbun; the Kakars, the Daways, the Babis and 0thers from Ghorghast; and the Ghilzays, the Lodays, the Suris, the Niazays and others are descended from Beett. Korla is said to have had no issues. (For details see, Neamet Ullah, History of the 4Éhans, Trans. from Persian into English with annotadons by Dom, Bernard, Vanguard Books (PVT), Lahore, 1999 (Reprint), 26—42. Herodotus, The History, Translated by Grene, D. , The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 1987, 3—91, 3.102, 7.67, 7.85. Khattak, Tahkh-e-Mtmwa' (in pcshto),

Cknaal Hi.Jtory of the Pashtuns, ed. Kamil Momand, D. M., University Book Agency, Peshawar, 606—624. Afzal Khan Khattak was a grandson of the great poet and warrior Khushhal Khattak. Morgensticrne, G., "The People; The Pashto Language: Pashto Literature", The Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. l, 1960, 216—221. Durnnay, Sultan Mohammad, The History of Sultant, (in Dari) Bombay, 1298 H. Q, 14—23. Kakar, M. E. ."han, Ughani5tan and the *ans and the Organization ofthe State in Indi, Persia and Afanislan, (in Dari), Kabul University Press, 1978, 1—37. Kakar, Govnment and Society in afghanistan, The of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, 1880—1901, rexas University Press at Austin, 1979, 157—158. Kohzad, Ahmad 'Ali, Gharghaht ya Gharshasib, (in Persian), (Gharghasht or Gharshasib], Kabul, first published In 1976, reprint by the Daunish Book Store, Peshawar, 1999. Siyal, Mira Jan., Zeno Pafhtano ShØary aw da Mainay azv Lund Tahkh, (in Pashto) [The of Sme Pasha-m Tribes and lands and Short Histoy), University Book Agency, Peshawar, 1986. I am grateful to Dr. Zamin Mohrnand for lending me this important book.

was plunged into a war in which many sons and grandsons of the late amir participated. In the course of the war Sardar 'Abd alRahman Khan, the only son Of the eldest son of the late amir, distinguished himself by helping his father and his full-uncle to the throne one after the other. Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan became a fugiti\e within his own country, but did not give up the fight. Finally in September 1868, he regained the throne with the help of his eldest son, Sardar Mohammad Ya'qub Khan, and Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan fled to Samarqand in Central Asia after his father and his full-uncle had died one after the other. In Samarqand Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan remained on a Russian pension for eleven years.

During his second reign, described in Chapter One, Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan organized his administration, and introduced some reforms, which put Afghanistan on the road to becoming a nation-state. However, the British, in the pursuit of their Forward Policy of the 1870s, occupied the country once agam in 1878. This occupation resulted in the Second Anglo-Afghan war, and it destroyed all that Amir Sher 'Ali Khan had accomplished. The viceroy of India, Lord Lytton, even decided to break up the country, and help the fugitive

Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman ascend the throne of what he called "Northem Afghanistan."

Lytton opposed thc risc to power of any member of the house of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, after the Afghans had massacred•the personnel of the British embassy in Kabul in an uprising. However, subsequent events obliged him as well as his immediate successor to abandon the scheme of fragmentation. His successor even assisted the new ruler, Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan, in reuniting the whole country. This occurred after Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, a son of the late Amir Sher %Ali Khan, had inflicted a stunning defeat on the British army at Maiwand, threatening the position of the British as well as that of the new amir. To overcome the common foe, the British assisted the amir, not only with money and weapons, but also by handing him over the province of Kandahar, which they had omcially declared independent in the name of a local ruler as part of their scheme of fragmenting the country. To the relief of the British the amir expelled his rival cousin to Persia, and succeeded in reuniting the country. But the reunification was incomplete since the British retained the Khyber and the Michni Passes, along with the districts of Kurram (Kurma), Pishin and Sibi that they had acquired by the treaty of Gandumak, of 1879. Additionally, the British were to conduct the external relations of the country, and later by the Durand Agreement or the Kabul Convention of 1893, they even deprived the amir of ruling over a vast region in the castern hinterland.

As amir, 'Abd al-Rahman Khan began the work which his predecessor, Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, had begun, but focused more on state building than nation building. Consequently, he concentrated on order and security, and drastically curtailed the traditional liberty that the Afghans especially their rural magnates enjoyed. He had reasons for doing so. Externally, by then Afghanistan had Iren encircled almost entirely by the British and Russian empires. They also curbed the amir's drive for regaining the territories that Afghanistan had lost previously, and also seized additional territory. Later in his reign they even reached an understanding between themselves and made Afghanistan a buffer state. The amir suspected both powers, and made their understanding a further justification for consolidating the government and his dynastic power, thereby demanding sacrifices from his subjects. Internally, the amir also had problems not less demanding. He was to establish his rule in the face of opposition of dynastic rivals. The more popular son of the late amir, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, proved a formidable rival, as noted above. While Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan succeeded in expelling him to Persia in 1881, his struggle with him, as well as his close ties with the British, alienated from the amir the Durranays and most of those who had fought the British during their occupation of Afghanistan. In 1888 the amir's full-cousin, Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan, the virtual autonomous governor of Afghan Turkestan, rebelled, but failed to unseat the amir. The defeated sardar took refuge in Samarqand a second time and the expansionist empires of Britain and Russia became homes to his dynastic rival cousins, including the former amir, Mohammad Ya^cqub Khan.

The external threats coupled with those from dynastic rivals as well as potential threats from provincial magnates con•hnced the amir that for Afghanistan to survive as a country it must have a strong central government with a strong military force. But this schene required the allocation- of a large proportion of financial resources and the curtailment of traditional autonomy of tribal communides and elders. Consider-ing the country's meager resources and the unwillingness of its people to live under a police state this was a most stupendous task that the amir set for himself. This scheme

resdted in over 40 rebellions of which I have studied only the major ones. The pacification of Hazarajat and the conquest of Kafiristan for the first time were different in nature. All of these events as well as the encirclement of the country by the British and Russian empires, and the demarcation of its boundaries make the reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan as the most formative period in the history of modern Afghanistan.

In view of their importance to the history of Afghanistan, Afghan relations with the British Government of India and with Russia constitute the major part of this study. Britain and Russia which had started the so-called Great Game to dominate the Central Asian lands much earlier in the century had finally besieged Afghanistan in the period under discussion. To them Afghanistan was a land without borders, an alibi for their forvvard movements. On the other hand, it was the policy of Afghan rulers in particular Amir •Abd al Rahman Khan to restore to Afghanistan the outlying territories she had previously lost. Afghanistan became, thus, a theatre for these pouers to carry on their forward policies in opposite directions. All this made the period not only rich in events internally but also internationally. I have studied the external developments in particular the Durand Agreement and the Russian occupation of Panjdeh in detail mainly in reference to the internal politics of Afghanistan, the kind of study no other scholar has previously attempted.

The foundation of-the present study is my M.Phil thesis entided Ughanistan, A Study in Inumal Political DweloPtnenLs, 1880—1896, published privately in Lahore in 1971. This work was narrower in scope and covered only the sixteen years of the twenty-one-year reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan. After its publication I located a great number of new sources particularly while performing research for my Ph.D. thesis, entitled, Gowmment and Socio *a.nütan.• The of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Dwt. Published in 1979, this work, as its title indicates, is a study of the government structure and some aspects of society to the exclusion of political and diplomatic history

The source materials drawn upon in the present study, as web my previous works, are varied and extensive, and have been ated in detail in my 1979 publication. Among the new unpublished sources that I have consulted for the present work are those diat I collected from the National Archives of India, in New Delhi. I also collected source materials from the India Offce Library and Records, in landon, (now part of the British Library Asia • Pacific and Africa Collections), and in the Royal Ministry of External Relations, in Kabul, where I was the only scholar to be given access to the files relating to the reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan. Among a number of omcial and un-official printed sources in Persian, mention should be made of volume three of Siro al-Tawarikh, (The Lnmp of Histories) and the works of Mohammad Yusuf Riyazi. As an offcial chronicle, the first covers in minute detail the first sixteen years of the reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan while the second addresses the events of the period in a general way. These works I was unable to consult before.

An especially important and rare work not consulted previously is Royals and Royal Mendicmt by Sirdar Abdul Effendi (b. 1888), the eldest son of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan. Based on tamily archives it is a biographical account of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan and Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan, as well as that of the hero of Maiwand, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan. It is the first major book of its kind in which an educated prince describes events surrounding his fallen dynasty, and is noteworthy for the author's objectivity, and critical attitude. In his own words, "With these exposures I feel proud that I have got nothing hidden from the reader. I •sould never sacrifice truth for any consideration.'" I remain permanently grateful to Sardar Mohammad Yahya Effendi, a relation of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan and now a retired army offcer in Rawalpindi in Pakistan, for granting me a copy of it. Mention should also be made pf an unpublished pamphlet, Reminiscences: A Short History of an Era, 1869—1881 by Mahmud Tarzi (1865—1933) who was a grandson of a brother of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan As a patriotic poet, a prolific author, and a distinguished journalist and diplomat, Tarzi influenced his contemporary politicians and intellectuals, and as the minister of external in the reign of King Aman Allah Khan he played a leading role in state affairs. His account, although brief and sometimes unreliable contains some useful information and insights. I am grateful to Dr M. Ibrahim Majid Seraj, a grandson of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, for providing me with a copy of its English translation.

Sirdar M. A.

1791—1947, Lon Hess, Lahore, year of print unhiown (1948?), 284. Efindi• was the eldest son Of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub and a gran&n Of Amir Sher •Ali.

One ,important work in English is IV'ar in Afghanistan. 1878—80, the Persona] Diary of Major General Sir Charles Metcalf MacGregor, published only recently (1985) with an introduction by Dr. William Trousdale. As the compiler Of the Gazetteer of Central Asia (a large part of which is devoted to Afghanistan) MacGregor, who served as the Chief of Staff of the British forces Kabul was well informed. His diary is in sharp contrast to the official statements and published reports of the British government officers of the era which were composed within strict limitations. Although clumsy in matters of diplomacy and hopeless in strategy and realpolitik, in all of whic' he mistakenly believed he excelled but he had, nonetheless, telli g insights into personalities and issues. "3 The diary complements official reports as well as Royals and Royal Mendicants. While the latter is a valuable source about the Mohammadzay rulers and princes and elders, MacGregor's diary is a valuable source with regard to their British counterparts in Kabul. I remain grateful to Dr. Trousdale for giving me a copy of this important work.

It is due to the excellence of source materials, both Afghan and non-Afghan, that this work meets the requirement of historiography. These materials are not only abundant but also highly reliable, given the complexity of human affairs and the limitations and fallibility of those who record them. The sources, as well as my specialist knowledge of the subject, have enabled me to give a balanced and proportionate account of the whole story. Now and then during the past thirty years or so I have revised and developed -as well as compresed the entire text of the original work, especially the chapter on the former Kafiristan. The Introduction is entirely new as is Chapter I as well as the following subsections: Waziristan, Bar Duarranays and Afghanistan, Maymana, Roshan and Shighnan, Wakhan, and International Significance of the Conquest of Kafiristan. Part Two, which deals exclusively with external relations, is likewise an entirely new addition as is the Conclusion.

³Trousdale, W. Introduction, in MacGregor, War in Ughantstan, 1879—80, The Persmal Diar ofMajor Gneral Sir Charks, MetaCfe MacGregor, with an Introduction by Trousdale, W., Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1985, 68.

CHAVÆR ONE

THE REIGN OF AMIR SHER ^CALI KHAN

The Accession

After Arnir Dost Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Mohammadzay dynasty, died Of asthma on June 9, 1863 at the age Of seventy-two, his ambitious sons from among his twenty-seven sons and twenty— five daughters born of sixteen wives fought among themselves in a conflict that lasted intermittently for four years. During the 21 years of his second reign, which had begun in 1843, the amir had succeeded in reunifying the fragrnented country which stretched from the Oxus River to the plains of Peshawar mainly through statesmanship and strategy. From an early age, during the Sadozay rule (Or the Durranay Empire), he held high offcial posts along with his many brothers, most of whom alQ) served the dynasty.

Sadozay dynasty had been founded by Ahmad Shah Durtanay, who ruled from 1747 to 1773. Following the dynasty's fall, in 1818, Dost Mohammad Khan distinguished himself greatly in the ensuing struggle for power even though he was one of the youngest of his brothers, and born of a Sipahmansur Qizilbash mother, from a minority Turkoman ethnic group. Of the twenty-one sons of Sardar Payanda Khan, called the Barakzay or Mohammadzay sarchrs, it was the eldest, Wazir Fatih Khan, and one of the youngest, Sardar Dost Mohammad Khan, who played the most important roles in the downfall of the ruling Sadozay dynasty. While the forrner acted as a state minister (wazir) and promoted his brothers to high posts the latter finally grabbed the throne when the former had died. In 1826 Sardar Dost Mohammad became the governor of Kabul, and in 1834 he became amir. During this long period of civil he, along with his brothers, first overcame members• of the forrner dma.sty and aften.vard sidelined his own rival brothers. Some of his rival brothers had already died of natural causes. However, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan's fint reign did not last long as the British deported him to India in 1840, after they had invaded Afghanistan in 1838. During his second reign, which began in 1843, his many sors and grandsons helped him extend his authority throughout the country. Known as the great amir (amir-e-kabir), he died in Herat shortly after he ircorporated that province into his kingdom. Herat had been autonomous since 1818. ¹

At the time of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan's death his third son, Sardar Sher Khan held the position of heir—apparent (u,uli'ahd

The amir had designated him as such after the two heirs-designate— Sardar Mohammad Akbar Khan and Sardar Ghulam Haydar Khan had died one after the other in 1847 and 1859 respectively. Just before his own death the amir ". . . pulled himself together to don the turban [Of rulership] on the head of our hero, the "Lion or 'Ali"2 after which hc was called Amir Sher 'Ali Khan. On the subject of state power, however, Pashtun princes have seldom heeded the words of their dead fathers. It is alleged that even before the late amir was buried the new amir's " . . youthful brother [Sardar Mohammad] Aslam intended to dispatch him [to the grave] with a pistol bullet, when the enlightened elder brother Sardar [Mohammad] A^Czam prevented regicide. "3 However, the "enlightened elder brother" was among the first to raise the standard of rebellion.

Civil War

Amir Sher Khan ruled in relative peace for two years with the exception of minor expeditions such as the one undertaken against Sardar Mohammad A^Czam Khan, the governor of Zurmula (Zurmut) who was exiled to India. In 1864, the amir undertook the first major expedition against his eldest half- brother, Sardar Mohammad Afzal Khan, the governor of Turkcstan, who had refused to pay revenue and read the Friday sermon (khutba) in the amir's name. This was an open act of rebellion as reading khutba in the name of the reigning amir as well as payrng revenue was the obligation of a governor. The amir feared that he might claim the throne, since he was the ddest of their father's M)ns, and further, possessed an army of

^IETendi, Royals and Royal Madiant, 72. According to Fayz Mohammad, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan had 27 Sons and 25 daughters bom Of 16 wives. d-

Tazurh, vols. I and 2 one cover, Kabul, 1331 H.Q., 250. ²Effendi, Royals and Royal Madwant, 81.

I l

twenty-five thousand troops, and had ruled the important frontier region for almost ten years after it had been pacified in 1855. A former British offcer, William Campbell, re-christened Sher Mohammad, who had been taken prisoner in a battle that Dost Mohammad Khan had waged against Shah Shuja' east of Kandahar, in 1834, had helped Sardar Mohammad Afzal Khan in organizing his army. All of these events influenced Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan to reconcile himself with his rebellious brother after their armies had fought inconclusively in Bajgah, in June 1864.

However, Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, the only son of Afzal Khan, worked against this arrangement because ' . he could not bring himself to see his father's legitimate right of succession the eldest son of Dost [Mohammad Khan] trampled.

V%ile [Sardar Mohammad] Afzal and the arnir were walking hand in hand in the shrine [of in Mazar] to endorse [the] peace, %4bd alRahman exposed his mala fide to arrest the king and shoot the crown prince (Sardar Mohammad (Ali Khan]. Sher was convinced that the father and the son had resolved to end the ruling house.⁵

The amir then seized his brother and took him to Kabul in custody, while the latter's son, Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman, fearful for his life, had already escaped to Bukhara. In 1865 Amir Sher ^cAli Khan set out for Kandahar at the head of his army. At the time his younger full-brother, Sardar Mohammad Amin Khan, the governor of Kandahar, had rebelled, and, further, had occupied Kalat-e-Ghilzay. In the fighting that took place at Kajbaz in June 1865 the rebel governor, the crown prince, Sardar Mohammad 'Ali Khan, as well as many others were killed. The deaths were too much for the amir to bear, and losing all interest in world affairs he took refuge in the khirqa (the location of the reputed robe of the Prophet, Muhanmad) in Kandahar just as Shah Mahmud Hotak had become a recluse after his conquest of Persia, in 1722. Repeated pleas from offcials failed to move Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, and his opponents, led by Sardar Mohammad A^Czam Khan and Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan, who had earlier fled to India and Bukhara respectively, proeeded toward Kabul and occupied it. They then helped the imprisoned

Ibid., 84. 5 Ibid., 87.

Sardar Mohammad Afzal Khan become amir in Kabul, in Niay 1866. Only then did Amir Sher ^CAli Khan leave the khirqa and dedicate himself to organizing an army. In a short time he succeeded in doing so, but his army suffered defeats in Sayyedabad in May 1866, in Muqur in January' 1867, and in Panjsher in September 1867 by the armies of his opponents. In the battle of Sayyedabad alone "the belligerents sustained casualties to the tune of eight thousand warriors."6 If true, this was indeed an enormous toll. Amir Sher 'Ali Khan retreated to Herat, and Amir Mohammad Afzal Khan died in October 1867. The latter was succeeded by his full-brother, Amir Mohammad Nzam Khan. Shcr 'Ali Khan, still did not resign, but instead he doubled his efforts in regaining the lost throne. His son, Sardar Mohammad Ya^tqub Khan (b. 1849), and several of his full-nephews helped him in his endeavor. However, his efforts to march on Kabul via Balkh failed, and he returned to Herat and planned to recover Kabul by way of Kandahar.

The first successful step in this recovery was taken by Sardar Mohammad Ya^cqub Khan, who expelled from Kandahar the sons of Amir Mohammad A^tzam Khan who ruled over it despotically. Sher 'Ali followed his triumphant son and proceeded from Kandahar toward Kabul, engaging Amir Mohammad A^Czam Khan in a batde near Ghazni. It was at this time that a few sardars in Kabul, tired of Amir Mohammad A^Czam Khan's tyranny, occupied the capital ciw for Amir Sher 'Ali Khan. Having lost the capital city and failed in overcoming their opponent in military engagements Amir Mohammad A^Czam Khan and Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan left Afghanistan once again. A'zarn Khan died on the way to Tehran, and Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan took asylum in Samarqand where he as a Russian pensioner for eleven years. Sher 'Ali Khan entered Kabul on September 8, 1868 and began to rule as amir for the second time. ⁷

There were particular reasons why the sons and grandsons of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan fought among themselves. The amir had divided his kingdom among his sons, just as Timur Shah Durranay

6 Ibid., 92.

For the best account of the civil war, see Mawlawi Nur Ahmad Nuri, G'Lshane-Amaral, [The Garden of the Amirate], History Association, Kabul, 1334/1956. was a contemporary of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan.

had done earlier, and they, therefore, regarded themselves as autonomous rulers, subject only to their father. Each of these governors had his own military force, and the authority to collect taxes and send the surplus to Kabul after deducting his own expenses; and each ruled his prmince as he pleased, and consequently, each looked upon it as his own domain. Another serious problem was the lack of unity among Amir Dost Mohammad Khan's numerous sons, who were the progeny of many mothers of different ethnic background. Princes born of the same mother joined forces against their rival half-brothers, but sometimes even they fought against each other in disputes over inheritance and power.

The rivalries between those born of different mothers may be explained by the fact that full-brothers and half-brothers were brought up in different milieus under different tutors (talas). Also, in the competitive atmosphere of dynastic circles mothers in general, and cowives in particular, raised their sons with a view to making them manly, competitive, partisan, and contentious. Only with these qualities, as well as skill in horsemanship, was a prince able to compete effectively in the hard and unpredictable profession of politics. Rivalry was always present in the families of the sardars, among whom it 'c . . would start with the governors and pages and end up uöth their ladies." The rivalry and all that was connected with it 's. . . would then spread among the sardars and the sons of lesser nobles, resulting in ever growing feuds over power and inheritance. "8 However, competitiveness and rivalry were not confined to the families of the goveming sardars; they were characteristics of the Pashtuns among whom it was said that in the tribe you may not be without cousins, among cousins not without brothers, and among brothers not without sons. All this is due to the custom of åüburi or rivalry among paternal cousins that exists among them with force even to the present day.

The immediate causes of the civil war were personal. Sardar Mohammad Afzal and Sardar Mohammad A^Czam felt that their father had wronged them by passing over them in the succession.

As the eldest sons of their father, they believed that it was their

Tarzi, M. Rerninicences, "A Short History of an Era, 1869—1881," Trans from Persian into English by Wahid Tarzi, Unpublished manuxript, 4.

"natural and legal rights'" to succeed him, one after the other. They felt especially wronged since as governors, they had proved themselves to be able administrators and soldiers, though not as able as Amir Sher ^CAIi had been. They were, however, the sons of a provincial Pashtun mother, whereas Amir Sher ^cAli Khan was the son of a Sadozay mother, connected to the inner dynastic circle. This is not to suggest that the mother of Amir Sher ^cAli Khan had directly influenced the great amir in his decision. It is said that "Amir Dost Mohammad Khan was too strong a character to be swayed by the gust of love for woman. "10 Besides, "Sher ^CAIi's mother was too ugly to appeal to a man with aesthetic taste. "ll But the great amir had

. . stupendous regards for her" as she had been the mother of Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan, the 'Liberator of Afghanistan. '12 By all accounts it was the astounding qualities of Sher ^CAM, which led his father away from the path of justice". ¹³The unjust path, however, ". . . not only knocked the bottom out of his house, but opened a wide chasm in the fidelity and the faith of the people, which unfortunately still [as of 1948] endure[s] and emit[s] a nasty smell of a festering sore." ¹⁴Thus, the death Of the great amir followed by a civil war as the death of Timur Shah Durranay (who had also shown a preference for his third son as his had been.

During the civil war many other sardars also played roles, since, by custom, each commanded contingents of private soldiers, enjoyed rent-free lands, and received allowances in return for military services in times of emergency. Some of these sardars, who had been deprÅed by the amir of many of their privileges, entered the war, as did tribal and community elders. However, during the entire period of this struggle, the triumphant Mohammadzay sardars did not treat their fallen rivals brutally as some of the triumphant Sadozay princes had done earlier, Nor did they treat harshly the sardars who had changed sides and by doing so had contributed to the prolongation of the war. With the one exception of the execution of a

Efrndi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 84. 'o Ibid., 85. Ibid. 12 Ibid. '3 Ibid.

Ibid., 84.

non-Mohammadzay general, Mohammad Raff Ludin, they only imprisoned or expelled their fallen opponents. Among a people whose high politics were associated with violence this was indeed an achievement. This was perhaps because the Mohammadzay sardars viewed the war as a dynastic struggle, and they considered the punishment they inflicted on their fallen opponents to be fitting for disloyalty to a member of their own dynasty, rather than to a ruler representing heaven, the fatherland, the people, or the state,

The Reforms

The civil war in Afghanistan coincided with the gigantic stride of Russia in Central Asia, as a result of which it became coterminous with Afghanistan for the first time. (See Chapter Eleven). Understandably, Amir Sher %Ali Khan feared that Afghanistan would be probably Russia's next target. To forestall this danger, he thed to consolidate his government at home and gain the support of the British Government of India.

First, on November 12, 1868, he ordered the expulsion under guard of Sayyed Jamal al-Din Afghani (1830s—1897) via Kandahar and Quetta to India, in opposition to his own desire to proceed to the Russian-dominated Bukhara. As an instigator of the Muslim world determined to oppose the European domination of the Muslim countries and working for the revival of Islam, Afghani advocated the Pan-Islamic movement as well as the overthrow of the Muslim absolutist rulers. However, Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan charged that this person has an object of his own in view," and consequently considered his continued residence in Afghanistan "to be full of hazard to the country."

Afghani had entered Herat in 1866, and since October 1867 had lodged at the Bala Hissar in Kabul. There, as a leading member of Amir Mohammad A'zam Khan's Privy Council he advised him "to follow an anti-British course." Apparently, he also intended to advise the new amir to follow a similar line. In the words of his biographer, "1t is plausible that Jamal al-Din, who had already evinced a strong hostility to the British, was simply trying to marshal 111 the persuasive power he could to turn the amir to an anti-British policy." However, this much was known that in addition to being an Anglophobe he was also a Russophile, and in response to his desire

CHAVI'E.R

for the conclusion of an alliance between "the Russian and Afghan Governments" Amir Sher 'Ali Khan had bluntly told him that "I perfectly know my neighbors, and am well acquainted with the circumstances Of the Russian Government; your further residence in this country is contrary to my pleasure. 15

Second and more importantly, early in 1869 the amir visited India omcially, and held meetings in Ambala with the governor-general and viceroy, Lnrd Mayo, who received him well, but did not share his fear of Russia. However, he granted him weapons, and the latter, in addition, brought back with him ". . . many Indian [Muslim] artisans and retired non-commissioned offcers of the Indian Army" as vsell as "scores of workers to train his forces and trim his subjects."16 Thus, it is clear that the reforms the amir introduced began during his visit to India, which

. . . convinced him that a primitive Afghanistan will scarcely expect to be treated on terms of equality by the two powerful neighbors, Russia and England, nor will she remotely command recognition and respect abroad.

The amir would openly say that all people are advancing in the arts of peace and civilization. It is we Afghans who remain the ignorant asses we have always been.

The amir's reforms had many dimensions, and the military attracted most of his attention. According to Effendi the amir dedicated

Keddje, N., ad-Dim "al-Ughani", a-4 Political Biography, University Of Califomia Press, Berkeley, Inndon, 1972, 37, 58. Roy Mottahedeh has characterized the great instigator of the Muslim world in the following words: "He had a madrasah education both in Iran and Iraq. He also acquired training in ^ser-fan from an Iranian teacher and himself wrote a trcatise on Islamic mysticism. From then on he shifted from country to country and role to role in an attempt to revive Islam as a political force. At the court of the Ottoman emperor, the Egyptian khedive, in exile in Paris or British India Or czarist Russia he proved a tireless and fearless adopter Of roles and philosophies, to many of which he proved inconstant: he was at various times a Scottish freemason, a defender of Islam against European materialism, an advocate of parliamentary government within Islam, and an admirer of the messianic politics of the mahdi of the Sudan." The Mantle ofthe B@htt, Rtl*ion and Po&ics in Iran, Pantheon Books, New York, 1985, 183.
Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 130. Ghobar, Mir Ghu]am Afohammad,

Afghanistan Dar WfzsiT-e-TariM [Ughanistan along the H&hway of Histoy, or A

Histor 'f4Vuzniftan], Kabul, 1967, 596. For a description of the workshops in Kabul where weapons were made in the reign of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan see Kakar, Goverrment and Society in Afghanistan, 193—194.

F"ndi, Rya-Is Madiant, 130. , 129.

his life and soul" to the military and viewed it as a '•private religion". ¹⁹Toward the end of his decade-long reign the amir had organized a large regular army. Thus, he became the first Afghan ruler to do so, while his predecessors had relied mainly on irregular army and the notables of the land. Based on the British model, the regular arn•y of 56,173 troops was grouped into 42 regiments of cavalry, 73 Of infantry, and 48 batteries.²⁰The British Supreme Commander, General Frederick Roberts, reporting from Kabul in 1879, stated the following:

Before the outbreak of hostilities last year [1878] the amir had raised and equipped with arms of precision, 68 regiments of infantry and 16 Of cavalry. The Afghan artillery amounted to nearly 300 guns. Numbers of skilled artisans were constantly employed in the manufacture of rifled Cannon and breach-loading small guns. More than a million pound of powder and, I believe, several million rounds of homemade snider ammunition, were in the Bala Hissar. Swords, helmets, uniforms and other articles of military equipment were stored in proportionate quantities. "21

The amir had turned Kabul into a military city where ^c'. . . shouts, marches and trumpets were heard everywhere. "22

Amir Sher ^CAIi also attempted to popularize the army by inducIng royal princes to serve it. He ^s'. . . enlisted Crown Prince 'Abd Allah to don the apron of a shoe-maker, while his favorite grandson Ahmad 'Ali would discharge his duty with a pair of scissors to be a good cutter of the soldiers uniforms."Z3 The amir would admonish the royal clan of the Mohammadzays to take to martial

Ibid., 135.

Figures on the army of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan are many and at variance with each other. Those noted by J. Lambert are probably accurate, because he had compilcd them from the offcial pay rolls in Kabul whcn the British had occupied it in 1879. These I have cited in the text. Lambert, J. "Statement of the Revemue and Expenditure of Afghanistan, 1877—78," Pros. 1 886, Nos. 161—166, 1886,Forcign Departrnent, Secret-F, National Archives of India, New Delhi (Henceforth, NAI). Mahmud Tarzi's figures also tally with them when he states that . . the arny was organized into about 80 battalions of 800 soldiers," Reminiscences, 7.
Roberts F., (from Kabul), to Alfred C. Lyall, Secretary to the Goverrment Of

India, 22 Nov. 1879, Political and Secret Letters and Enclosures Receved (in London) from India, (Henceforth PSI-I), vol. 23, p, 1579. India Offce Library,

London. Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 139.

Tarzi, Reminiscences, 7.
Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 137.

life and hard work, while to the aristocracy to cut off from ease and see hearth and home well protected".^[1]^3aHowever, the Mohammadzays and the aristocracy showed little interest in the military service.

In order to train in the science of war, the amir set up a military academy where mathematics, geography, map- reading and strategy were taught. The manuals of instruction were translated into Pashto in which words of command and military tides, as well as decrees were also issued. These words of command are still in use. Lingual reform became necessary as the Pashto—speaking Ghilzays and Wardaks, and their notables dominated the army, and held high civil and military posts. The amir regarded Persian as "borrowed feathers", and therefore felt that it was necessary to replace it with Pashto, the language of the overvvhelming majority.

During this period, the large tract of Pashtun land up to Peshawar was still a part of Afghanistan. According to Effendi, "Soon the grateful monarch found himself in a position to claim Pashto, to bc the national language of his countrymen."24 The reform was well received, since the Pashtuns constituted the great majority of the population, members of the dynasty still spoke Pashto, and the Persian-dominatcd bureaucracy was only limited. QAZi %Abd al-Qadir (Yusufzay), known as Qazi Wro, whom the amir had brought with him from Peshawar assisted him in his reforms. A competent tradesman, wellversed in Pashto, English, Urdu and Persian and privy to the innermost circle of the Afghan court, Qazi Qadiro "would always point out the path of progress to his powerful master." Through his devotion and skill he "had so won his master's mind that he sat safe against attackers. 'V2S In 1876 The Qazi had even supervised the enumcration of the residents of the city of Kabul, which then had a population of 140,700 men and women. To author Abdul Q9dir Effendi, Qazi Qadiro was "a genius." Contrary to the assertion Of some scholars it was not Jamal al-Din Afghani, but who had advised the amir to introduce the reforms.

Military service was for life on a voluntary basis²⁶and soldiers were paid in cash instead of by drafts (barat) which had been the

Ibid.

practice previously.²⁷The military expcnditurc strained thc cconomy, since out of the yearly income Of over thirteen million Kabuli rupccs over five-and-a-half million (or nearly forty-three percent) were event on the army^2HThe military expenses madc it neccssary for thc amir to revamp the system of taxation.

Information on the overall system of taxation is not available. However, reports on certain districts indicate that the revenuc on land was assessed either on the basis of se-kol [one-third] or jam' bitst [assessment on a tribal communi5']. Under the former system, thc government took one-third of the produce, and this was usually farmed out, while under the latter a fixed lighter amount Was assessed. Thc rate of revcnuc on the statc land (khalisa) was, of course, highcr. ^r• For rcvenuc purposes, districts were classified on ethnic lines. Various other types of taxes were also imposed, as was the custom duty of' two-and-a half percent on the original price of merchandises. Further, occasionally additional taxes were also levied. In 1878, when the amir believed that Afghanistan was threatened by foreign powers, he levied four Kabuli rupees on cach male to strengthen the army. This led to general and eroded the good will that the amir had caused to generate when he had abolished payment of land revenue by landowners and various other types of taxes collected three months in advance of the actual produce taken from the land.³¹

Meanwhile, the amir took some austerity measures, and even decreased the allowances of the royal household including those of his wives so that "every. penny saved would go to strengthen thc country's defense, which was that patriotic sovereign's one and only desire."32 Through this and othei measures the budget, which was in deficit in the first years of the amir's rule" remained in urplus towards the closing years of his reign." State revenue was then

n Sykes, Sir Percy, A of I-ondon, 2, 78. Ghobar, 594.

²⁸Lambert, %tatement of the Revenue," 7.

B Hastings, Major, "A Short Account of thc Ghazni 4, PSLI, 26, Pt. 3, 358.

Fayz Mohammad, al-Tauu'W1, Hutorwl, Kabul, vol 3, 339.

Nuri, (hdshan-t-Amaral, 186.

Effendi, Royals and Royal A-fadia_nl, 134.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir• 336.

³⁴Iamtrrt, "Statement of Rcvcnuc," 7. Ihc total surplus the year 1877-78 was I Kabuli rupees.

increased by over five million Kabuli rupees from the annual total at the end of the reign of Amir Dost NIohAmmad Khan. In thc latter•s reign state revenue was eight rHllion Kabuli rupees.

Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan also emisaged opening a naval base to deliver the country from isolation and lay the ground fv prosperity:

He made neither a mistake nor a secret of his cherished ambition to have Gawadir, the forlom harbor of southern Baluchistan, on the entrance to the Persian Gulf, for a naval base, where-from his strong, small but smart navy should proudly emerge. to show his royal standard of the head of the Bengal tiger, on a crimson background, to all countries and al] climes.^Ni

At the time Baluchistan was a part of Afghanistan.

The amir also introduced administrative reforms by setting up a twelve-member state council composed of civic leaders and military offcers, whom he himself selected.3⁷After Ahmad Shah Durranay, Amir Sher ^cAli was the first Afghan ruler to do so, but his council was only consultative. Additionally, although the council was devised to be permanent3⁸toward the latter years of his reign it was not heard of. Instead, the amir acted in consultation with a few trusted advisers from the royal court and the branch of government the latter of which he had enlarged in 1873 on the occasion of the festivities that were held that year in honor of the official nomination of his younger son, Sardar 'Abd Allah Jan, as heir apparent.

Also on the occasion of the offcial nomination, Amir Sher 'Ali pronuied offcials to ministerial positions with prestigious titles, in Pashto Nur Mohammad Shah Foshanji as loy mukhtar (prime minister), Asmat Allah Khan Ghilzay as loy mayan de ghro mulk (minister of home affairs), Aersala Khan Ghilzay as loy mayan de baunday (minister of foreign affairs), Habib Allah Khan Wardak as loy mulk (minister of finance), Hussayn 'Ali Khan as tol mishr (minister of war), Ahmad 'Ali Khan Timuri as loy tolawunay (minister of treasury), and Mohammad Hassan Khan (Qizilbash) as loy kishil (chief secretary to the amir). The amir adopted the title of Assistant to the Religion (Mdin "I-Din) for himself.³⁹No one from the royal dynasty was made

's Ghobar, Afghanistan Dar Masir-tTtarikh, 575.

Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendüant, 135.
Nun, Gulshan-e-Amarat, 186.
Ghobar, Ughaniskm Dar Masir-e-TaÅkh, 595.
Riyazi, 'Ayn al-Waqayi ^e[Events Observed] in Kglhyat-e-Rbazi (in Persian) [ne

a member of the ministerial cabinet, and the amir gave full %right to the principle of personal qualification. The standing army enabled him to do so as it freed him from traditional dependence on the Alohammadzay sardars as well as the magnates. The system worked, and during the critical days before and after the amir's death some of these officials, especially Prime Minister Nur Mohammad Khan Foshanji and Mustaufi Habib Allah Wardak, distinguished themselves-⁴⁰

Out of "expediency" the amir did not abolish polygamy, but he would exercise his full powers, to secure her [widow] the freedom of [re] marriage and the guardianship of her brood [sic] from her deceased husband. . , . Polygamy had made I-Te intolerable to the pa.rties concerned, and would cultivate antagonism from generation to generation. "0

Also, out of "expediency" the amir did nothing to abolish slavery even though both men and women "would be bought and sold like so many chattels, to perform [domestic duties] and labor under shocking conditions." In particular, "The slave-girls would satiate the lust of their masters, to be mercilessly punished by their jealous mistresses. "42 However, slavery was practiced on a small scale in Afghanistan.

Other measures included the establishment of postal services, the building of the Sherpur (also Sher Abad) cantonmept, and the setting up of a lithographic printing press in which Shams al-Nahar, the first official periodical in Afghanistan, was published. Coins were issued bearing the verses: "By the favor of the Eternal Creator, the money of Sher 'Ali has found circulation", and 'Through the abundant kindness of the Beneficent King of Heaven, Amir Sher 'Ali coined money like the bright, full rhoon."43 Previously, coins bore the names of rulers with anonymous titles such as sahib-e-zaman (lord of the age) or Sahib-e-mulk (lord of the land). Also, important was the use of the word "Afghan" on his coins.⁴⁴Additionally, for the first

Collected Works Of RiyazO, Mashhad, 1904, 173. Ghobar, Afghanistan Lkr e-TaHkh, 595. Rishtia, Ughanistan Dar @m-e-Nuzdah [Afghanistan in the Nineteenth Century] 273.

⁴⁰Riyazi, al-Waqgyz^t, 173. Ghobar, Ughanistan Dar 595. Fayz Mohammad, al-Tauuikh, 332.

Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 133. ⁴²Ibid

Gulzad, Zalmay A, B&rnal and he mvelopmeni of åe ,4fgh.an _Mnetænth Century, Peter Lang, New York, San Fransisco, 1994, 70. 44 Ibid.

time the government opened a school along with a military academy. The schools were, or course, in addition to the madrasas (traditional seminaries) which had existed in Afghanistan since the time Of Emperor Sultan Xlahmud Of Ghazna, in the eleventh century.

lien after it had been reformed the government was still unable to rule directly over the entire country. It controlled only cities, towns and their dependencies as well as those areas where contingents of troops were stationed. Tribal communities, especially those of the frontier regions, remained self-administered as before, and their affairs werc settled by elders mainly through jirgas in accord with the Shari^ta and Pashtunwadi (Pashtun code Of behavior). In cases in which disputes between individuals and tribes were unsettled the conflicting parties often resorted to violence. Thus, in these rural autonomous comrnunities anarchy and order co-existed, and the government intervened only when general order was disrupted.

In the new state that emerged from these reforms the most important force was the amir himself. History, social conventions and Islam sanctioned allegiance to him, but the ties between him and his subjects were still personal in character rather than institutional. Thus, allegiance to his •successor was not automatically transferred; rather, the successor had to command it, and the moment the reigning amir disappeared for whatever reason, powerful forces were ready to assert themselves. Among these forces, personal ambition was the most important, while the forces of regionalism and tribalism were still strong against which centralism and modernism had begun to operate on a large scale for the first time. As previously noted, the most important instrument of power in the hands of the government was the army. However, the army itself was organized along tribal and regional lines. Even cistlicts were organized in this way. Likewise names which referred to region and ethnicity such as Kandaharay, Heratay, Tajik, Wardak and so forth, were %idespread and emotionally charged.

Amir Sher 'Ali Khan was the first Afghan ruler to organize (or reorganize) the state or more specifically the government along relatively modern lines. He started an extremely important movement, which his successors strengthened. It is then fitting to describe him an enlightened and a visionary ruler, and dso relate him to the 'beginnings of a new Afghanistan", as some historians have done."

s Gregorian, Vartan, Stanford University Pres. 1968, 93.

:ALJ

The Sons against 'he Father

Despitc his successful reforms' Amir Sher 'Ali experienced serious problems with his two eldest sons: Sardar Mohammad Ya'qub Khan (b. 1849) and Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan (b. 1858): As previously noted, in 1873, the amir nominated his minor son, Sardar 'Abd Allah Jan (b. 1866) as heir-apparent in a grand ceremony. By doing so, he provoked his eldest sons, and demonstrated that he was unable to run his family affairs smoothly.

Amir Sher ^CAIi's troubles have been traced -to his unequal treatment of his wives, and the recalcitrance of Sardar Mohammad Ya^zqub Khan. The amir favored the mother of the heir apparent to the mother of Sardar Mohammad Ya'qub Khan, and he had proviied the former with five hundred Kabuli rupees a month as allowance, while the same amount was provided for the latter for the whole year "because of the rebellions of her sons."" However, Effendi states that his grandfather was a ^S'misogynist" and that the reason he bypassed his eldest son was due to his 'Svindictiveness." However, whilc the amir may have been a "misogynist" as Effendi claims he was still open to the influence of the mother of heir-apparent. This may have been due to the fact that she was a woman of the dynasty, whereas Qamar Jan, the mother of Sardar Mohsammad Ya'qub and Sardar Mohammad Ayyub, was the daughter of Saⁱadat Khan, the Khan of the frontier tribe of Mohmand.

Further, Effehdi also states that in Herat Ya'qub Khari had accorded a "rude reception [to] his fugitive father", and that later in Kabul he had associated himself with a party, known as "Yakubzais", which had, for its purpose, the unseating of his father. He describes the situation thus:

A party hostile to the amir for their [sic] ends, was secretly forming under the intriguer Bahadur Khan Kabuli, with the grandiose tide Of Yakubzais. Bahadur had earrnarked premiership with dictatorial pov•fr ers for himself while his lieutenant Shahpisand Khan Barakzai was appeased to be the commander-in-chief Of the Afghan army. Yakub was to be a mere puppet while Shere Ali had either to end [his] days as a blind prisoner in jail or be banished from hearth and hone.""

+6 Effendi, Royals and Royal •MendeanLs, 134. Ibid., 107.

'I'he intrigue surfaced when Sardar -Mohammad Ya'qub Khan "set ow for rebellion at the head of six thousand irregular horse", warning his father with a bluff that "he would raise piles of skulls of the dead if he was pursued" while he was on his way to Herat of which prmincc he took control after some vicissitudes."

Surprisingly, after his brother, Mohammad Ayyub joined him in Herat, Nlohammad Ya'qub Khan reappeared in Kabul and sought a pardon, which his father granted him and sent him back to his post in Herat. The amir, thus, pardoned him, but had lost hope in him to succeed him. In 1873, the amir bypßsed• him as well as his full-brother, and nominated his seven-year-old son, Sardar 'Abd Allah Jan, as his heir—apparent (wali'ahd). According to Effendi, "Yakub again kicked his traces", but the amir "immediately summoned [him] to account for his misdeeds, which had become too much to tolerate, "49 On the condition that he would not be "molested" which the amir apparently granted, Mohammad Ya'qub Khan appeared before his father yet again, but this time he was detained "in solitary confinement in the rdyal palace. "50 The amir did so because he also suspected him of making "Herat an independent principality under the protection Of Persia. "51 Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan fled to Mashhad in Persia. Thus, the amir got rid of his troublesome sons, but he also deprived himself as well as the country of the services of the most able and dynamic members of his house.

" Ibid, 108. 49 Ibid., 112. ibid.

160

CHAPTER •nvo

THE BRITISH AFC,HXX WAR AND THE ACCESSION OF AMIR 'ABD AL-RAHMAN KHAN

Prelude to I Var

After Lord Edward Robert L B. Lytton assumed power as governor-general and viceroy in India, in 1876, Indo-Afghan relations worsened. Lord Lytton came to India with explicit instructions to deal with Afghanistan in line Mith the aims of the 'Forward Policy' that will soon be described. In India "Lytton won the grudging support of his Council and set in motion a diplomatic policy toward the Amir Sher ^CAIi [which] he knew could only culminate in the Indian army's advance into Afghan territory. "l This subject has been described in Chapter Ten. In order to obviate the assumed Russian advance on India via Afghanistan, Lord Lytton formulated a policy the purpose of which was to establish actual control over Afghanistan. This required a military advancc on Afghanistan similar to thc one that his rcmote predecessor, Lord Auckland, had undertaken forty years earlicr. As a result of that invasion the British had lost almost an entire army, but Lord Lytton was not deterred by that defeat. Instead, he made a strenuous effort to implement the new Forward Policy the advocates of which

. belie•.ed not only that England had no choice but to meet this Russian challenge, but that there was an implicit obligation in the Administration Of the Indian subcontinent to extend that form of government to the numerous fragmented tribal groups who would be the ultimate beneficiaries of European values and civilization.

In reality, the notion of the importation of "European values and civilization" was a screen for expansion and domination. Afghanistan had a history that extended back thousands of years, and the country

I Trousdale, W., Introduction, in War in Afghanistan, 49. This topic is discussed in

Chapter Ten.

²48.

already possessed a rich culture, including the attributes of Islamic ciGlization. Further, under Amir Sher %Ali Khan a central government had been* instituted on modern lines. (See Chapter One). As William Trousdale states:

For most of the Forward Policy believers, the Scientific Frontier was a tempocary screen for their real aim. If the [British] government would support annexation Of the southem half of Afghanistan [Kandahar and Herat] it would in timc tolerate annexation of the whole.³

To reach this goal, Lytton took certain steps, among them, the occupation of the city of Quetta, as part of a treaty, which India concluded with the Khan of Qalat in Baluchistan, a feudatory of Afghanistan, in 1876. The viceroy was vvilling to conclude an offensive and defensive treaty with Amir Sher Ali Khan, provided he placed his external relations under him, and accepted British offcers stationed around the frontiers of his country. In return, Lytton was willing to offcially recognize the young heir-designate, ^CAbd Allah Jan, and thus ensure the amir's dynastic rule. Since Lytton's proposal was meant to turn the independent country of Afghanistan into the protectorate of the British, whom the Afghans considered "infidels", the amir did not accept the proposal, and a stalemate prevailed over Indo-Afghan. relations.

At this juncture General Constantine P. von Kauffmann, Russia's governor-general in Tashkand, forced a mission Of his own, under the command of General Stolietoff on the amir. After its arrival in Kabul in the summer of 1878, the mission was said to have concluded a defensive and offensive treaty with him. However, the real purpose of the mission was for Russia to embroil the British in Afghanistan, so hoping that the latter would recall the Indian troops that they had sent to Malta in support of the Ottomans, with whom Russia was then at war.

The Second Anglo-Afghan War

The Kaufmann scheme succeeded, and this provided an excuse for Lytton to force his own mission under Neville Chamberlain. However, when the Afghans blocked the mission's entry at the Khyber Pass,

³49

THE BRITISH AFGHAN WAR 27

he declared war on Afghanistan, on November 21, 1878. The Second British War with Afghanistan began as simple as that. Three columns of the British army overran some frontier cities and districts on their way to Kabul, Kandahar, and Jalalabad in the first phase of the Second British Afghan War or the Second Afghan War, as the British sources describe it.'

Amir Sher 'Ali Khan did not opt to fight the invaders with his own army, telling his people "1 am leaving in order to unite with the Russians and acquire financial and military assistance so that I may return to avenge myself." He also said that "The British have not accepted our right to freedom and independence, and want us in captivity. "5 After touring the city, and while he had already sent "the families, luggage and the multitudes of soldiers" he left for Mazar in the north of the country to seek the help of Russia. Surprisingly, Kauffnann refused to extend Russia's assistance, instead advising the amir to come to terms with the British, and even refused him entry into his domain. Russia had duped Amir Sher ^cAli Khan. He remained in Mazar where because of ^c'. . . his chronic ailments of gout and tuberculosis, which for years had obliged him to move around in his special litter, suddenly recurred with such severity that" he died on February 21, 1879.6

Before his departure for Mazar Amir Sher 'Ali Khan had, as requested by the courtiers, released Sardar Mohammad Ya'qub Khan from prison arid introduced him to a specially convened darbar (court) 'Cin regal uniforrn as regent." The young heir-designate, %Abd Allah

Jan, had already died. Following Amir Sher 'Ali Khan's death, Mohammad Ya'qub Khan became amir, in Kabul. However, he was no longer the enterprising man that he had been. His imprisnment (1874—1878) had taken its toll and he had become "all pale with poor eyesight and no strength to walk straight."⁷Additionally, he had dynasdc rivals, each of whom had a faction of his own. Weakened

Among the many books dealing with the Second Anglo-Afghan War those that describe it in detail are Kakar, M. H., Jag-e-Dotoom afghan-Egli$, (Penian) [77u Wc], The Nadonal Islamic Front Of Afghanistan, Peshawar, 1989. Forbes, A, Tie "han Wars, I-andon, 1892. Hanna, H. B. The '(than War, 1878-79, 3 vols. Imdon, 1899-1910. Hensrnan, H., wr 41879-80, London, 1881.

Tarzi, Remini_rences, 6.
Ibid

Kakar, lave-mt.om-t-4fghan-Englis, 41.

by imprisonment, and also fearing that his rivals would outbid him in dealing the British, he accepted the advice of his "pro-British" companions who "would say to him that it is all over; you must surrender to the British so that at least, as the amir, you may continue in luxury and succcss."8 He then accepted Lytton's demands by concluding a treaty with Major Pierre Louis N. Cavagnari, an envoy of the British government of India, on May 26, 1879.

The treaty was concluded in a British military camp in the Safed Sang village in Gandumak, in eastern Afghanistan, where the last troops of the British army retreating from Kabul had perished, in 1842. Its main points were the control of Afghanistan's external relations by the British, and the stationing of British officers in Afghanistan. The British were also to control the Khyber Pass and Michni Pass, and, for only administrative purposes, British India, was assigned the populous districts of Kurma (Kurram), Pishin and Sibi. All of these concesions were made in return for British support against foreign aggression on Afghanistan, plus a small subsidy and a promise of non-interference in the internal affairs of thc country.

Since the treaty had made the 'infidels' preponderant in Afghanistan and transformed the country's ruler into their vassal, it was bound to turn most Afghans against it even though there were some who ''[i]n their sectarianism, preferred non-Muslims to' Sunnis." They were mostly the Shifi Qizilbzshes, who lived in Chindawal, a distinct quarter in the city, protected by strong walls and a moat.⁹This explains why the amir did not •make the treaty public, and why he disclosed its contents to only a few Of his courtiers. The author D. P. Singhal, in his book, India and Ughanistan, 1876—1907, states that the aim of the treaty was to reduce Afghanistan into principalities. This does not seem •to be the case, since the treaty had no provision by which to split Afghanistan. Actually, Lytton intended to rule Afghanistan through the amir as he hoped that his power would gradually be transferred to the British envoy. "Il In this way, the country was

Tarzi, Reminiscences, 7.
Ibid, 11.
Singh], D. P. India #ani.stan, 1876—1907, A in Diploma-tx

The Univcrsity of Queensland Press, Australia, 1971, 46. Based mainly on omcial records of the British Government of India, this is a specialized and highly mendable book. It covers the external relations of Afghanistan during the reigns of Amir Shel 'Ali Khan and Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan. ^l' Ibid., 49.

Tarzi, Reminiscences, 7.
Ibid, 11.
Singh], D. P. India #ani.stan, 1876—1907, A in Diploma-tx

war. They occupied the city of Kabul in early October after Afghan warriors unsuccessfully resisted them in Char Asia. Fearing humiliation in front of his rivals for his failure to save his British allies, the amir was said to have offered his resignation to General Frederick Roberts, Supreme Commander of the occupying forces in Kabul." Later in India, Ya'qub Khan claimed that he had been unjustly forced to resign, and that Britain had no right to force him to do so. ¹⁵While it is true that the British did not have the right to force the amir to resign, they had the might to do so. At first they kept the amir in custody pending a decision on his fate, but it was soon clear that he had become a prisoner. As Sir Charles M. MacGregor, Chief of Staff of the British forces in Kabul, notes in his War in Ughanistan, 1879—80 "Had meant to examine thc amir tomorrow, but Bobs [Roberts] said we had better not awhile, as he might look as if he was a prisoner, which he Further, the amir himself . complained of having been made a prisoner and being badly treated "17 The British also detained some senior offcials except for General Dawud Shah, the Commander-in-Chief, who tried to save the lives of the British.

On October 12th, Roberts held a public darbar in Kabul. There, in the presence of some pro-British Mohammadzay sardars, he proclaimed that, as the chief civil and military administrator, he had appointed Major General Sir James Hill-Jones as the military governor of Kabul, and a few sardars as governors of provinces. Among them were Sardar Wali Mohammad Khan and Sardar Mohammad Hassan Khan, who were proclaimed as the governors of Turkestan and Maidan respectively. Both were brothers of the late Amir Sher 'Ali Khan.

-me takeover of the government and the brutal punishment of those who had been implicated or assumed to be involved in the destruction of the embassy created the impression that the British intended to stay in Afghanistan, and rule the country. While there

¹⁴According to Riyazi, Roberts imprisoned Mohammad Ya^cqub Khan, and comrlled him to resign. gyn al-Waqyi^e, 188.

Kakar, jag-e-Lhuom-e-4&-Eglis, 76.

MacGregor, Way
Roberts, F., Siah Sang, Kabul, 9 Oct. 1879, 9 (909), Diqatche frm•n the

Government of India Containing a Statement Of the Cases Tried before the Military Commision, I.ondon, 1880

is no official policy pronouncement to confirm this, the British officials in Kabul behaved as if it was actually the case. MacGregor for one is explicit about it in the following passage,

. under the present juncture of affairs, the thing to do is to say to the Afghans. You shall give in, you have killed Cavi[gnari], and his 100 men, but we are sending another representative with 10,000 men, and he shall stay there whether you like it or not. We wish one thing from you, and that is friendship, but whether we get this Or not, we will have your obedience, you may chafe as much as you please, but we will be your masters, and you will find that the only escape from our heavy hand will be your entire submission. ^lB

Next, Roberts arranged for the execution of those had been implicated or assumed implicated in the destruction Of the embassy. In his own words: "Every soldier and civilian who took part in the massacre of the British Embassy on the 3rd of September last will be executed."19 It was, of course, impossible for him to execute all of those who had participated in the massacre, but about those who were apprehended he gave an order that the prisoners were to be tried and hung. "Z0 The word "hung" indicates that Roberts had already decided to hang all those who were caught whether tried or not. This and other similar actions led MacGregor to conclude that Bob is the most bloodthirsty beast I know."21 Roberts' order made the political commission that had been set up to determine who had taken part in the massacre almost meaningless. However, some offcials, including MacGregor, saved the lives of a few Afghans who would otherwise have been.

AS an alien •non-Muslim military' despot, Roberts had a logic of his own which was to employ force in order to intimidate the Afghans into submission and also to inflict revenge. Even as early as Scptcmbcr 14th, which was about a month before his arrival in Kabul, he had decided to do so. At that time, writing from Ali Khel to General Baker, he stated the following:

Until we have proof that any soldiers actively befriended the Embassy, we must consider all as belonging to the one lot, and, get rid Of them,

MacGregor, in A*anistan, 77.

19 Roberts, Siah Sang, Kabul, 9 Oct 1879, 9 (909), Dispatches from the Covemment of India containing a Statement of the Cases Tried before the Military Commision, London, 1880.

MacGregor, War in 4Éhanisun, I I I. n Ibid.

-rvvo

whether their regiments were in Kabul or not—for soldiers caught ',v.th arms in the field trial is unnecessary. A bullet will do if you are pressed for time otherwise hanging, qhich does not waste ammunition.

This was why, according to Trousdale the 's . . . vengeful hangings at Kabul were far more indiscriminate than Roberts cared to admit." Also, MacGregor knew that innocent and guilty alike were hanged in that autumn of retribution, that the military tribunal was a sham. "23 He also states that he "[flound that men were being simply murdered under name ofjustice," ²⁴and that Roberts has shot some 6 men alrtady in cold blood." Further, MacGregor states that "1 have saved three fron his clutches already. "25 According to an omcial report, eightynine suspected persons, including Mohammad Aslam Khan, chief of the security forces Kabul Kotwal), and those who had shot some Qizilbashes for their cooperation with the British were hanged. ²⁶But Hayat Khan, an Indian Muslim member of the commission, has been quoted as saying that 1 70 men were hung and that 70 of them y«ere for fighting against us.

It appears that Roberts resorted to brutal punishment because, according to MacGregor, as a 'favorite of fortune" he ^s' was like an activeflea, and jumped whichever way the Viceroy ordered. "28 Lytton had instructed him that

[f]or such a crime the whole Afghan nation should be held responsible, and that the punishment for such an act should be inflicted not only on the Afghan nation, but also on every individual who had taken part in the event. ²⁹

While it appears that Roberts was simply carrymg out the Instructions of his superior, in reality he himself held a similar view even before he received Lytton's instructions: Lytton's instructions were datcd September 29th, while Roberts had already—made up his mind about the punishment by September 14th, as previously noted.

ⁿRoberls quoted in MacGregor, War in Afghanistan, n.' 167.

²³Trousdale, Introduction in War in .'@hanistan, 60. ²⁴MacGregor, War in Ughanistam, 1 12. Ibid., 101.

'x Robert, Siah Sang, Kabul, 9 Oct. 1879. 5 (905), Di9atches from the Govemment of India Containing a of the Cases Tried before the Military Commission, London, 1880.

²⁷MacGregor, War Ughanistan, 192. a Ibid., 171.

²⁹Kakar, jang-e-Dowom-e-Åfghan-Engäs, 79.

The instructions strengthened him still further in his resolve, since hc then committcd excesses in affecting the killing of so many Afghans that of this outraged the liberal press in India, as yell as England. Fredrick Harrison argued that the punishments were illegal and unlawful for the simple rcason that people can not be considercd guilty for defending their country.•u) The public in Britain was also outraged and this in part contributed to the defeat of the government in the general election that was held later, in April 1880.

The executions were followed by the deportation to India of the amir, and his principal ad\isers, among them Sardar Yahya Khan (the amir's father-in-law), Shah Mohammad Khan, Minister of External Affairs; and Sardar Zakria Khan. Only Mustaufi Habib Allah Wardak (b. 1828), the minister of financial affairs was not deported, but was left in Kabul because the authority needed his skills in administrative and financial affairs. In addition, in Kabul, the family of the deported amir was placed under house arrest. Also, MacGregor "[g]ot orders out for the occupation of the Sherpur Cantonment and the destruction of the Bala Hisar. "ll

The Bala Hissar citadel, which was the seat of Afghan rulers after 1 776, had been the scene of an explosion in which some Gorkha soldiers were killed on October 16th. Afterward, the British destroyed it because Cavagnari and others had been massacred there, and because MacGregor believed that it would be difficult to guard after the army moved to the Sherpur Cantonment. The well-cultivated Cantonment had water ducts running through it, large halls, broad verandas, and substantial gateways, and it could accommodate over twenty thousand men. ³²The destruction of the Bala Hissar, which was associated with the glory of the kingdom, contributed even more to the anger of the people.

The Ughan Response

The takeover of the administration, the brutal punishments, the deportation and the house arrest of the amir's family aroused the

Sunni population of the regions around Kabul to action. They believed

Ibid., 81.

³¹MacGregor, War in Afghanistan, 110. 32 Ibid., 103.

The Ughan Response

The takeover of the administration, the brutal punishments, the deportation and the house arrest of the amir's family aroused the

Sunni population of the regions around Kabul to action. They believed

Ibid., 81.

MacGregor, War in Afghanistan, 110.
,

general retreat. ³⁶This is a scapegoat view of history. A more likely explanation for this is that after they restored Kabul the Afghans preferred to loot the quarters of the pro-British Qizilbashes, the Hindus" and the houses of the rich pro-British Mohammadzay sardars to defeating the invaders. ³⁸

For ten days the insurgents left the besieged army almost unmolested, even though it was vulnerable at the time. Only General Mohammad Jan Wardak proposed to the besieged General Frederick Roberts that the British evacuate Afghanistan, and surrender their weapons,³⁹presumably in return for a safe passage. The proposal was similar to the one that Sardar Mohammad Akbar Khan had made to the besieged British army in Kabul forty years earlier. However, while Mohammad Akbar Khan had succeeded in his plan, Mohammad Jan Wardak did not. His proposal as well as the delay gave Roberts and his offcers time to fortify their position. On December 23, 1879, the Afghan warriors, who were either unarmed or lightly armed,⁴⁰assaulted the besieged army but failed to overcome it. The British soldiers, whose officers were informed Of the planned attack in advance, drove them away by their counter-shelling fired from superior artillery and rifles.⁴¹Ultimately, the cold, the shortage of provisions, and the lack of a unified command contributed to the retreat. More importantly, as MacGregor has noted the Afghan power is a good deal broken and we have got most of their arrns and ammunition and nearly all their guns.''42 It was,

Ghobar, "hanütan Ihr Masir-e-Tarüh, 630. Rishtia, S. Q. Afghanistan Dar Qarn-e-Nuzdah, 253.

Forbes, The "han Wars, 255.

Riyazi, 'Ayn al-Waqayi^t190.

39 Hensman, Afghan War Of 1879—80, 245.

o Ibid., 248.

Riyazi, 'Ayn al-Waggyi% 190. Fayz Mohamrnad, [The lamp of Histories] vol. l, Kabul, 1915, 358.

MacGregor, Wc I I l. For details and d&rent verionl Of the campaigns see Ghobar, Afghanistan Ma*-t-Tari", 623—633. alWaqgi' 186-193; Hcnsman, wr of 1879-80, 218-259; Hanna, ne &tnd War, I I I , 168—25; Was, 202—265; and Kakar,

90— 105.

Fayz Mohammad alleges l, 358) that during the ani-Bridsh campaigu, General Mohammad Jan Wardak accepted a bribe from the

This is not true. In the first place, 1 have found no such a refererre eith« in the unpubbshed or published C&ial -rcccn•ds. In plue, such sation can not be Gue becaur Wardak was the of the campaigns and for this the people revered him as a saint and a hero. He is the first

a defeat. •r intermittently,

KandaharJ in August have been described bulk of the Afghan as their temporary center after they drove away from there the Hazaras who had occupied it at the instigation of General Roberts, when he and his army were besieged in Sherpur. Represented by the Ghazni Party or the National Party, as it was referred to in the British omcial reports, they chose Sardar Musa Jan, a young son of the exiled amir, as the new amir. The National Party did not have a single leader, but several leaders of equal status, and wanted to restore the former amir and observe the "01d a reference to the treaties of 1855 and 1857 concluded between Amir Dost Mohammad Khan and the British Government of India. In these treaties, the amir had agreed to be "the friend of the friends and the enemy of the enemies of the British."

The "JVew Order" for Afghanistan

As a result of the December uprising the Kabul administration headed by Major-General J. Hill-Jones collapsed. General Roberts decided to set up a new one and give it an indigenous appearance, with a Mohammadzay sardar, assisted by offce holders to head it. However, the Mohammadzays were in their twilight years, and even less influential than the mullas had been.⁴⁵Away' from their power base— that is, Kandahar, they could not count on the active support of others in times of war, when the government and the army had

military offcer in Afghanistan whom the rank and file of the army elected to the rank ofgeneral (ghamushr) to lead them in the campaigns against the British invaders. support of the house of Amir Sher arranged to have him killed the accusation that Wardak a by the chronicle's author in

Of Events in Afghanistan,

CHAPTER TWO

a defeat. •r intermittently,

The "JVew Order" for Afghanistan

military offcer in Afghanistan whom the rank and file of the army elected to the rank ofgeneral (ghamushr) to lead them in the campaigns against the British invaders. support of the house of Amir Sher him arranged to have him killed the accusation that Wardak a by the chronicle's author in

to Of Events in Afghanistan,

India Offce Library, London,

a defeat. •r intermittently,

The "JVew Order" for Afghanistan

Of Events in Afghanistan,

THE BRITISH AFGHAN WAR 39

mir of Badakhshan, Shahzadah Mohammad Hasan, opposed the enuy of Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman. Eventually, however, the mir was driven out of his domain to Gilgit by his rivals, Mir Baba and Mohammad 'Omar, who brought Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman to Fayzabad, the capital city of Badakhshan.

In the middle of March Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan lcf! for Qataghan where by a stroke of luck he was joined by a detachment of the Afghan army, which had been sent there by General Ghalam Haydar Wardak from Mazar to chastise Sultan Murad, the of Qataghan. This was a turning point for the sardar. Among the predominantly non-Pashtun inhabitants he became the acknowledged leader of a regular army. His power increased still further when the whole army of Mazar joined Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan, who supported the cause of %Abd al-Rahman Khan. Ishaq Khan was a full-cousin of Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan, and like the latter, had been in exile in Samarqand. Afterward, Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan doubled his efforts in extending his influence throughout the country.

In Kabul, opposition to the occupation lasted longer than the British had anticipated. The British government, in London, was getting restless, and was unwilling to continue to sanction the war." Further, the executions in Kabul had aroused fury, even in England, as previously noted. Under pressure, Lord Lytton decided to evacuate 'Northern Afghanistan' by the following autumn, and this made it necessary for him to make new arrangements. As part of his plan, he replaced General Roberts with General Donald M. Stewart as the supreme commander of 'the Northern Afghanistan Field Force.' No reason was given for the replacement, but MacGregor maintained that 'c, our misfortune was in having a man like Bobs, when we wanted a strong, honest and able man. "52 This implies that General Stewart whom MacGregor viewed as a masterful man, a real commander"53 would have succeeded where Roberts had failed. This was highly unlikely because, as the massacre and the resistance

so Kushkaki, B, Rahnomq-e-@tghan un Badahshan, [A Guide to Qatagyan and

Badakhshan], Kabul, 1302/1924, 171.

⁵¹Singhal, India and Ughanütan, 59. MacGregor, in 171. Ibid, 184.

don of 'Northern Afghanistan.' In line with the guidelines that he had issued to Griffn, Kandahar was to be separated from 'Northern Afghanistan' and a suitable individual, other than the deported amir, was to be approached?' In truth, Lytton was against the coming to power of any member of the family of the late Amir Sher ^cAli Khan, as he bclieved that no member of the family would go along with his scheme. Further, he held a grudge against the entire family because of the massacre, even though the Investigation Commission had declared Mohammad Ya'qub Khan only "inculpably negligent." The diffculty of Griffn can be appreciated in the context of this mebdrama, in which the views of the Afghans and of Lytton were poles apart.

In Kabul, the search for a ruler aroused various factions to action. The strongest party was probably that of Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, a cousin and brother-in-law of the deported amir, but the National Party did not trust him, and the British withdrew their support when they began negotiating with Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan. The wali of Kabul also aspired to the throne, although it was known that without the British military support he could not succeed. With regard to the choice of a ruler the National Party was the most influential voice, and it would support only a member of the family of the late Amir Sher 'Ali Khan. Although it opppsed the occupation vehemently, it still preferred a closer relationship with British India to one with Russia.

Roberts had already sent Mustaufi Habib Allah Wardak to Ghazni to impress upon elders of the National Party the necessity of naming someone to rule over "Northern Afghanistan."55 They named the deported amir, guaranteeing his friendship with the British,⁵⁶but don of 'Northern Afghanistan.' In line with the guidelines that he had issued to Griffn, Kandahar was to be separated from 'Northern Afghanistan' and a suitable individual, other than the deported amir, was to be approached?' In truth, Lytton was against the coming to power of any member of the family of the late Amir Sher ^cAli Khan, as he bclieved that no member of the family would go along with his scheme. Further, he held a grudge against the entire family because of the massacre, even though the Investigation Commission had declared Mohammad Ya'qub Khan only "inculpably negligent." The diffculty of Griffn can be appreciated in the context of this mebdrama, in which the views of the Afghans and of Lytton were poles apart.

with neither, and consequently, he was unwilling to ally himself with Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan against the British, instead opting to come to terms with them. On June 9, 1880, about three weeks before 'Abd al-Rahman Khan set out for Kabul, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan left Herat ror Kandahar. Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan thought that if his rival cousin came to Kandahar, the Durranays and Ghilzays would rally behind him. He also feared that his rival might negotiate with the British before he did. 'Abd al-Rahman was eager to become a ruler, while Mohammad Ayyub Khan was first and foremost concerned with ousting the invaders. This explains why the former speedily appeared near Kabul and accepted the British terms. The Ghilzays supported the family of the late Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, but their opposition to the invaders was stronger than their loyalty to the family. Consequently, in the absence of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, they accepted Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan at the last minute.

Sardar al-Rahman did not have a substantial support among the Mohammadzay sardars in Kabul. Arnir Sher 'Ali Khan had supprescd those sardars M'ho had supported the family of Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman in the civil war. The other sardars were either 'Cavagnanzays', or Ya^cqubzays, or had ambitions of their own. Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan bypassed them all, and appealed directly to the people. It is a tribute to his insight and skill that he gained the support of those who had opposed the British along with the support of those who had been committed to the family of the late amir, while at the same time successfully negotiating with the British. However, by accepting only 'Northern Afghanistan' he went along with the British scheme to divide Afghanistan. Further, he surrendered the external independence Of the country for which his compatriots had fought.

THREE

THE AFGHAN VICTORY AT -MAIH'AND AND THE

REUNIFICATION OF AFGHANISTAN

The negotiations conducted between the British officials and Sardar 'Abd al-Rahman Khan in 1880 resulted in the establishment of the latter's rule in northern and eastern Afghanistan. In western Afghanistan, Kandahar and Herat remained outside his domain. The British, who had stationed a contingent of troops in Kandahar, had formally placed it under Wali Sher %Xli Khan, while Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan ruled Herat independently. This chapter describes how after the British had evacuated Kandahar as a result of the defeat of their army at Maiwand, Ayyub Khan occupied it and soon afterward lost it in a military encounter with the new amir, ^CAbd alRahman Khan. The victory made it possible for the amir to occupy Herat, and to reunify the whole country.

Kandahar a Separate Hinczpali!v

Of all the provinces of Afghanistan, Kandahar was the most Important, since it was large, fertile, and the home mainly of the Durranay tribal confederation with its main divisions of Popalzay, Barakzay, Alkozay, Achakzay, Nurzay, Alizay, Ishaqzay, Khugianay and Maku. The Durranays were formerly called Audaul (or Abdaul). Ghilzays, Qizilbashes (or Parsiwans) and other groups also lived there, and it was the Ghilzay elder, Mir Wais Hotak who hberated Kandahar from the Safavi occupation in 1709. After his death, first his brother and afterward his son ruled over it until 1738. However, in 1747 the Durranays, under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Durranay, following the death of Nadir Shah Afshar, founded a more permanent rule that lasted for about two and a half centuries, until 1978 Thus, Kandahar was associated with the ruling. dynasties of the mo most important divisions of the Pashtuns.

Kandahar was the site of human settlement from prehistoric times. Alexander the Great founded a city there too, as did Nadir Shah 46

Afshar in the eighteenth century. The modern city of Kandahar was founded in 1 761 by Ahmad Shah Durranay, and it remained the capital city Of imperial Afghanistan until Timur Shah Durranay transferred the capital seat to Kabul, in 1776. Having produced emperors and kings, the Durranays looked upon themselves as a proud people, calling other inhabitants of the city opras (strangers).

In 1880, Viceroy Lord Lytton in line with the "divide-and-rule policy" which the British reputedly applied in their colonies intended to separate Kandahar from Afghanistan and subject it to the British rule. He considered Kandahar to be necessary for India strategically and commercially. To secretary of state for India, Lord Cranbrook, he wrote,

Although our primary reason for holding and improving this route [Quetta-Kandahar-Herat-Central Asia] is, no doubt, the undisputed command of southern Afghanistan and the means for forestalling Russian influence at Herat, we cannot lose sight Of the fact that this route has iRen at all times one Of the main tracts of Central Asian traffcs. ^l

To maintain a hold over the province of Kandahar. Lytton arranged to link it to India by a railway, the construction of which had already begun, and was scheduled to bc completed by the end of 1880. ²

Sardar Sher 'Ali Khan, a son Of Sardar Mehrdil Khan, was a cousin of the late Amir Sher 'Ali Khan. Following his accession, Amir Nfohammad Ya^cqub Khan appointed him the governor of the province. He was still the governor when a British army- under General Donald Stewart occupied it in 1879. The governor threw in his lot with thc British in return for their recognition of him as zeali (governor) of the province. Lytton even went so far as to hold that the wali was ". . . well able to hold his own entirely subject to our control. "3 On May I l, 1880 Sardar Sher 'Ali Khan was recognized officially in a public durbar as the "Wali of Kandahar and its dependencies." In a letter that was read on the occasion the viceroy addressed had him thus: "1 have the pleasure in announcing to you that Her Majesty the Queen-Empress has been pleased to recognize Your Highness as an independent ruler of Kandahar."4

Lytton to Cranbrook, 20 Nov. 80, PANEA, 110.

²Ibid

Balfour, Izptton's Indian Adrüistration, 382. PANEA, 109.

THE AFGHAN VICTORY AT MAIWAND 47

Colonel St. John, the Political Representative was more eloquent in a statement that he read in Persian, stating the following:

Under the just rule of the Wali Shei 'Ali Khan, and under the protcction of England, Kandahar will, if it plcascs God, remain frcc from foreign aggression, and nse to such a height of wealth and prosperity that it will be the envy of the whole of Islam.⁵

The walii rule was declared hereditary, but his foreign relations were to be conducted by a British political representative quartered in Kandahar. The wali was allowed to have the Friday sermon (khutba) read and coins issued in his name, and he was also granted weapons and money. He was, thus, allowed to enjoy the appearance of an independent ruler.

Howeven the wal?s dependence on the British soon turned his countrymen against him. Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan and the mullas (religious functionaries) denounced him as a 'kafir' or 'infidel'. ⁶The latter also declared their support for Mohammad Ayyub Khan, and their opposition to the wali. ⁷Except for a few Barakzay relatives of the wali the bulk of the Durranays of Kandahar boycotted him, and even his mother and family advised him to oppose the British.⁸Only the Ghilzays of Qalat paid him revenue, but most of the inhabitants of Kandahar refused to do so, and, also, defied his authority. The wali, nevertheless, remained loyal to the British, and organized an army.

In June 1880 the wali moved with his army to Girishk west of Kandahar to fortify his frontier and, further, incite people in Taimani and Farah against Sardar Mohammad Ayyub khan, who was rumored to be advancing on Kandahar.. However, the wali made it dear to the British that he needed their military support if he was to move beyond Girishk. When, in late June, Ayyub Khan's advance became certain, a British force 2,400 strong under Major General G. R. S. Burrows, was dispatched to Helmand, near Girishk.

s Wheeler, S., The Amm Abdur Rahman, New York, 1895, 94.

⁶PANEA, 118.

Kandahar Diary (Kand D), 1-8 June 80, PSLI, 25, 1025. ⁸Stewart to Lyall, 12 May 80, PSLI, 25, 1025.

the permission of the shah of Persia, and in possession of seventyfive-thousand Persian qirans (roughly half Of rupees). HC had gonc to Nlashhad after his father, Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, had imprisoned his full-brother, Sardar Mohammad Ya'qub Khan (See Chapter One). In Hcrat, Ayyub Khan had already rcccived military training from one Colonel Mehdi Khan, a Russian convert to Islam, who was finally banished for espionage.'" Toward the end of his life when he had traveled from Lahore to Kashmir and Japan Ayyub Khan composed diaries in Persian that were . simple, lucid and full of useful information and observations, though replete with grammatical errors and idiomatic slips." He was, however, so much conservative that he had become, according to his son, "the creature of the clergy" ¹⁰and his "narrow-mindedness" shut him off from ^c'. . . things which are at once the master keys to human advancement and progress." However, this Ayyub Khan came to impress the image of a real hero in the minds of Afghans by inflicting a most stunning defeat on the British invaders. As his son correctly states, the "secret of his prominence [lay] in his patriotism, for which he sacrificed everything and spared nothing."ll

Early in 1879 Ayyub Khan assumed the administration of Herat after his full-brother, Sardar Mohammad Ya^cqub Khan, had become amir in Kabul. As the result of having had little contact with his father, when he was young, and because he had overseen his own entourage from an early age, the sardar had developed an independent personality. He was so sensitive about his independence that even the command of his brother, the amir, irritated him much, despite the fact that all along he had been his "true brother and henchman."12 In response to his brother's "'bossing" him "which was for

173, 151.

178.

173, 151.

178.

173, 151.

178.

The first British shell caught the scarlet umbrella held over the prince, and the Afghans responded with a general frontal assault. They doubled [sic], while the adversary was searching every corner of the battlefield Mith perfect impunity. The passive resistance or the A@hans was due to their muzzle loading fire-arms, which were no match to the Martini Henry and the Snider rifles of the adversary. One battery of the Armstrong alone kept the kettle boiling, while the rest or the Afghan guns [said to be 30 Or 35] kept mum. This state of affairs placed the endurance Of the warriors of the crescent to a most severe test. Their condition was worsened with Loynab's retreat at the head of 4,000 Herati irregular cavalry. For a while victory awaited the English with open arms, when the Afghan omcers in utter desperation rushed their men with drawn swords against the enemy squares. Though their death rate cost them appalling casualties, yet it, nonetheless, ealed the fate of the enemy. The attackers [Afghans] tightened the cordon and their smooth bore guns, confident of their range, belched Out with the perceptible result of British lines swinging to and fro. In spite of the tenacity of their offcers, an orderly retreat seemed impossible to perform. ²⁹

Toward the end of the battle

a handful of the British infantrymen, . , literally fought to the last man and the last shot, to uphold the honor of the British flag, which won them the ever-lasting appreciations of their adversaries They kept the Afghans at bay, and held their standard high, till the last man fell ³⁰

Many of those ". . . who were hiding in streams, wells, and gardens perished at the hands of women, who, from the roofs hurled heavy objects such as millstones, rocks, well-pulleys and stone mortars at them. "31 Effendi states: "Thus the entire British forces were annihilated [in four hours] with the exception of three scores, who were destined to reach Kandahar, to relate the tale of woe "32

According to St. John the Afghans killed and wounded numbered 2,150, and the English about 1,100. Ayyub's army was made up of 4,555 infantry, about 3,200 cavalry, and 4,000 ghazis [fighters against the 'infidels'] many of whom were talibs (students of Islamic studies), while that of General Burrows made up of 2,800 regular with 2,000

²⁹Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 187—188.

Ibid., 188-189.

Tar-zi, Reminiscences, 14.

³²Effendi, RO-yaLf and Royal Ma&ant, 189.

THE AFGHAN VICTORY AT MAIWAND 51

Toward the end of the battle

²⁹Effendi, Royals and Royal Mendicant, 187—188.

Ibid., 188-189.

Tar-zi, Reminiscences, 14.

³²Effendi, RO-yaLf and Royal Ma&ant, 189.

Khan probably felt that he either could not force the British army, or because of the presence of Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan, he saw it advisable to come to terms with the British from a position of strength. Mhatever the truth, despite the fact that thc negotiation bore no fruit, the Maiwand battle dealt a deadly blow to the Bntish scheme of dividing Afghanistan.

Battles are organized by generals and fought by warriors.

the battles are won the generals are viewed as heroes, and the warriors are forgotten perhaps because pcoplc want to have herocs and forget about those who have actually made them. That is why Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan is known to this day as the hero or victor of Maivand, and the actual fighters are forgotten, although it was they fought the battle with a fierce determination, at an enormous cost, to the point of final victory. Of course, they did so when a dynastic prince led them to the battlefield to defend the fatherland, Islam, and independence. The Maiwand victory compares with the victory that was won over forty years earlier in Kabul against a strong British army and camp followers from among •whom only about three hundred survived, and only one, Surgeon William Brydon, escaped. Both damaged the reputation of the British, a superpower of the time. But at Maiwand according to Sir Charles M. MacGregor it was not ^s'. . . so bad in the way of the losses . . . but worse for our honor as they [the British soldiers] ought all to have been killed. "39 On the other hand, both victories established the reputation of Afghans as Spartans and rescued them from being conquered by a European colonial superpower. That is why they left a deep mark not only on Afghans of the time, but on Afghans of the future generations as well.

The victory in Kabul was the outcome largely of the statesmanship and generalship of Ghazi Mohammad Akbar Khan, and that in Maiwand largely of the efforts of his nephew, Ghazi Mohammad Ayyub Khan. These individuals as well as the memory of Maiuand have come to symbolize Afghan gallantry and patriotism. Both have contributed much toward consolidating the Afghans as a nation, a notion actually inherited from Mir Wais Hotak and Ahmad Shah Durranay. Emotionally evocative, all these names have become the ngredients of Afghan culture. However, in the long run, the victories

'9 MacGregor, War 217.

at Kabul and Maiwand kept the Afghans isolated from the currents of science and technology, and other progreésive aspects of modern life, and they also contributed to a legacy of xenophobia.

The Zimma A feeling

The British offcials in Kabul feared that the Afghan victory at Maiwand would upset the arrangement that they had made with Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan. Griffn wired the foreign secretary, Alfred Lyall the following message:

The Kandahar news alters the position hcre and unless Ayyub can be beaten decisively and quickly, may cause all arrangements to collapse. Amir will not be able to stand against Ayyub, Gctorious. Many of his adherents will abandon him and his troops here and in Turkestan may mutiny. If he marches to Ghazni, the country will join

The amir himself shared this fear, and he and Griffin agreed to cooperate. During a two-day meting in Zimma⁴¹just north of Kabul, on July 31—August l, 1880, the amir pressed Griffn to conclude a treaty with him. However, Griffn was not authorized to do so, because at the time, the British Government of India viewed the amir's position as precarious. Alternatively, in order to help the amir consolidate his position, the Governmcnt granted him a few light guns and nearly two million rupees which actually belonged to the Afghan treasury. More importantly, Grimn promised him that the British troops would leave soon, a promise that enabled the amir to tell his people that he was sending the invading army away.

In return for the British assistance, the amir promised to persuade the Ghilzay elders to allow a British force to pass through their land on the way to Kandahar. A select army of ten thousand strong, with artillery guns and nine thousand camels appeared to be for the purpose of evacuating Kabul, but in reality had been sent to relieve the besieged army in Kandahar, as the British found it difficult to send troops there from their nearest base, in the city of Quetta. Starting

'0 to Lyall 28 July 80, PSI-I, 26, pt. 3, 47.

For the text of the Zimma meeting, see Kakar, .4fghanistan, A Stu" in lnUmal Politid 1880—1896, Punjab Educational press, Lahore, 1971 , 256—281.

on August 7, the army, under General Roberts, covered 324 miles in twenty-three days, which was a remarkable feat, although the army was traveled unhindered, and MacGregor who had accompanied it, states, "People, civil. they say apologetically by order."42 As previously noted, the amir had asked their elders not to molest the British army.

The army arrived at kandahar on August 31 and found that the besieged British offcers there had been under tremendous pressure. According to MacGregor, as they had lost over 200 men, with eight offcers, in an unsuccessful sortie, they were "looking very cheap. On September l , 1880, the British army, commanded by General Roberts, defeated the army of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan in an engagement in the Baba Wali Pass, near the city, with a loss of about 200 to the British and about the same number to the Afghans.^HAyyub Khan returned to Herat on September 22, 1880, and Roberts and his army left Kandahar for India for good. As William Trousdale states,

Roberts' . , . defeat of [Sardar Mohammad) Ayub near Kandahar vas vengeance for the British, but the true victory belonged to Aldur Rahman who was thus spared the necessity of defeating Ayub Kian in a military challenge for the crown.^4S

The Collapse of the Scheme of Partition

The Afghan victory at Maiwand dealt a deadly blow to the 'independence' of Kandahar, and Lord Lytton's 'new order' for Afghanistan. Foreign Secretary Alfred Lyall, who visited Kandahar shortly after Maiwand to assess the situation, concluded that, ' . the Durranis of Kandahar are much opposed to the occupation, either directly through [VVali] Sher Ali or any other nominee, or directly through our officers."" The British government then decided to hand over

MacGregor, War in Afghanistan, 232.

Ibid., 239.

Ibid. Offcially, the British casualties were 35 killed and 229 wounded. The Afghan losses are diffcult to ascertain, and estimates vao' from 700 to 1,200. It is to be noted that since the Baba Wali battle was not a major one these figures appear to be high.

Trousdale, Introduction in War in Afghanstan, 63. Lyall on Kandahar, Nov. 90, PSLI, 27, 547.

Kandahar to the amir despite the strong opposition of the Gceroy's council,' ; but since Ayyub Khan was . . . the most popular candidate for rule in southern Afghanistan' the amir did not want to occupy it immediately." However, the British were anxious to withdraw thcir troops before the summer heat hit thc region, and on April 16, 1881 they handed over Kandahar to the amir's officials along with weapons and money, but let themselves meet the feared challenge of the victor of Maiwand. Shortly afterward, they left the city for good. Wali Sher 'Ali Khan, who had been guaranteed 'dynastic hereditary rule' was granted an allowance for life, settled in Karachi, and faded into obscurity. Thus, the Second British War on Afghanistan came to an end. It was fought with the utmost ferocity, had an enormous death toll, weakened economics and disrupted the normal ways of Afghan life. The war also stained Britain's reputation and doomed its Forward Policy. What the British gained from this and their first Afghan war was the everlasting bad will of Afghans.

Sardar Mohammad ,4yyub nan and the Haatis

Upon his return to Herat Mohammad Ayyub faced a major rebellion which forced him to postpone his early march on Kandahar.⁵⁰The Heratis, that is, the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Parsiwans, the nomadic and semi-nomadic Char Aimaq (Jamshcdis, Firozkohis, Taimanis and the Sunni Hazaras of Qal'a-c-Nao) and others—were sick and tired of Kabuli rule. When the position of Ayyub Khan had been weakened, 'Northern Afghanistan' had formed the amir's kingdom, and Kandahar was still controlled by the British, the Heratis felt that the time had come for them to rule Herat themselves. Animosity had first appeared in Mazar between the Herati and Kabuli troops

For details see Memoranda on Kandahar, PSI—I, 27: 541, 547, 566, 1354, 1143, 1137, 1141.

Lyall on Kandahar, Nov. 80, psu, 27, 547.

Mahomed, 17" Life ofAbdur Rahman, l, 208.

My description of the relations Of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan Bith the people of Herat, featured in my book (1971), is basically the same as that provided by Riyazi in al- While my 1971 account is based on reports from the

Kandahar Diary, my present account is based mainly on the work of Riyazi, a Of Herat.

during the anarchy that followed the death of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan. This and the tyranny exercised over the Heratis by the Kabuli troops prompted them to initiate an upnsing. Illey declared Fay Mohammad Khan as their ruler and Colonel Yar Mohammad Khan Alkozay as their military leader.

According to Mohammad Yusuf Riyazi, a contemporary native chronicler, " 165,000" Ordinary men and artisans from class and tribal sections" took part in the uprising. On the day of the action a small number of people from the army joined them, but the leaders were not up to the task. The Kabuli troops of Ayyub Khan commanded by seasoned Ghilzay offcers and armed with superior weapons and artillery suppressed the rebels-⁵¹

Sardar Ayyub Khan had already crushed the Jamshedi and Qbchaq tribes by disposing of their elders, Khan Agha Jamshedi and Qazi Jahandar Khan Qbchaq for their pro-British policies, even though the former was his father-in-law.⁵2 Sardar Ambia Khan, elder of the Taimani tribe, also refused to pay revenue and, in addition, showed loyalty to the British.⁵³Of the Char Aimaq tribes only the Hazaras of Qal'a-e-Nao, under their elder, Mohammad Khan Nizam alDawla, remained loyal and fought on the side of Ayyub Khan.⁵⁴Thus, the sardar asserted his rule over the people of Herat, but they became alienated, and the alienation later became fatal to his rule.

Ayyub Khan's next step was to recover Kandahar, and he began to build up his army for the purpose of doing so. However, he needed to raise money, and was, therefore, compelled to exact taxes and customs dues. He was also in need of war materials, since the British had pressured the shah of Persia to prohibit their export to Herat. ⁵⁵Still, the sardar was able to build up an army of 4,400 men,⁵⁶made up of the Kabuli, Herati and Uzbek regiments, in addition to a large number of Herat and Qibchaq feudal cavalry.⁵⁷

In early July 1881 the sardar, accompanied by his offcers, set out

⁵' Riyazi, •Ayn al-Waqayt^t, 200—205.

⁵²Ibid., 195. MacGregor writes of Khan Agha Jamshedi whom he had met k'hile on the way to Kandahar. "I had a long talk qith him, he was very anxious for us to to Herat, saying it was ours." The in Ughanistan, 228.

Sardar Ambia Khan to St. John, Kand D, 28 Mar. 80, PSLI, 28, 767.

Riyazi, ^CAyn al-Waqa», 200, 209.

St John to Lyd, 15-21 Jan. 81, PSI-I, 27, 1039.

* St. John to Lyall, 19 July 81, psu, 29, 508. ⁵' Riyazi, al-Waqa/, 206.

for Kandahar. After his advance force encountered a setback in Girishk, it defeated in Girishk the amir's larger force at Karez-e%Aua. Subsequently he entered Kandahar a military encounter.

The Il'ar of Reu*ation

The occupation of Kandahar set Sardar Mohammad Ayyub in direct opposition to the amir. The sardar, who had the superior claim and more public support still did not march on Kabul even though the amr's position there was said to have been ' . extremely critical. "58 Instead, he stayed in Kandahar and waited for the amir to confront him there. He did so because his Durranay supporters did not show enthusiasm for marching on Kabul. Also, from a vague letter addressed to him by St. John, then the Political Agent in Baluchistan, Ayyub Khan suspected⁵⁹that if he marched on Kabul the British forces at Quetta might occupy Kandahar. In contrast, the amir acted boldly to meet the first challenge to his rule. After holding consultations Mith elders of the eastern Ghilzays and the Tajiks of Kohistan he set out for Kandahar in early August 1881. On the way, he won over the support of the southern Ghilzays mainly by presenting gifts and cash to their elders and the promise of a just government to all. He also provided free cooked food for the public. It was during this time that he demonstrated the greatest generosity of his life time.

Although he was the legal ruler, the amir was only able through presents and money to persuade the mullas to denounce Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan as a 'rebel'. In contrast, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub, though only a claimant to thg throne, declared jihad against what he called the "farangi amir." The mullas of Kandahar went even further, denouncing the amir as a "kafir" and calling on Muslims ^c'. .. to fight against the nominee and coadjutor of the infidels.''60 The legal rulings (fatuns), thus, justified bloodshed between cousins and Muslims of the same denomination, and showed that the sardar enjoyed more public support than the amir. Still, Ayyub Khan expressed willingness to negotiate with the amir, proposing an alliance

* AB, Kabul Correspondent, 4 Aug. 81, PSLI, 29, 771. ⁵' st. John to A„ub Khan, 10 Aug. 81, PSI-I, 29, 721.

Amir 'Abd al-Rahman to Ripon, 22 Shawal 1298, PSLI, 33, 86.

with him against the British. He also proposed that Afghanistan be ruled in effect as a confederation by the six surviving princes uhose fathers had ruled provinces under their grandfather, Amir Dost Nlohammad Khan.^GlHowever, the amir refused either to forge an alliance with him or rule the country in association with his peer cousins in spite of the fact that at the Zimma meeting he had shown no desire either for Kandahar or Herat.⁶²The matter was, thus, left to bc scttlcd by the sword.

St. John, who widely reported on the developments in southern Afghanistan, described the confrontation between the rival cousins as a war between the two "hereditary Ghilzays and Durranays whose "ancestral animosity" he considered to have been by far the strongest political passion in southern Afghanistan. "63 He concluded that the Durranays flocked to Ayyub Khan, ' . the 1 eprcscntauve of the Durranay against the Ghilzays [to defend] their city agamst the Ghilzay invader."64

Although the southern Ghilzays were traditionally on bad terms with the Durranays, the conflict was not inter-tribal, but shaped more by religion, fear of foreign domination, and the hope of the acquisition of rewards. The Ghilzays took part on both sides; while the Tarakay Ghilzays supported Ayyub Khan, and closed the road behind the amir as a sign of rebellion. ⁶⁵the Hotak Ghilzays were dinded in their loyalty. As the name indicates, the Qalat regiment, which went over to Ayyub Khan in Girishk, was, in all probability, composed of the Ghilzays. Further, many of Ayyub Khan's senior oficers were Ghilzays, although most Ghilzays supported the amir, but he bought their service with money and the promise of. plunder. The amir's army also had two thousand Kandahari horseman, most of whom were Durranays, although the Durranays flocked to Ayyub Khan in the belief that he was 'a champion of Islam' and the anur 'a creature of the British.' This was because they opposed thc idea of being ruled by another puppet which they believed the amir to be. This also accounts for the presence of many mullas and talibs (students of Islamic studies) in the army of the sardar. Further, as

St. John to Foreign, (T), 5 sept. 81, PSLI, 29, 977.

⁶²Grimn to Stewart, 4 Aug. 80, PSLI, 26, pt. 5, 869.

St. John to Lyall, 22 sept. 81, PSI-I, 30, 117.

Ibid., ng.

St. John to Lyall, 22 sept. 81, psu, 29, 1063 a.

already noted, the Maiwand battle had made Ayyub Khan an unquestionable hero.

The sardar had a larger army—snenteen thousand versus the fourteen thousand or thc amir's more experienced offccrs—Sipah Salar Hussayn Qizilbash, Na'ib Salar Hafiz Allah Ghilzay, Sardar ^CAbd Allah Nasir. and General Taj Mohammad Ghilzay. However, thc sardar had fewer guns than the amir had because he had lost many guns to the

On the day of the battle (September 22, 1881), the prevailing impression was a victory for the sardar's army. Indeed, at the start of the encounter, his army made advances against its adversary, but all of a sudden it retreated and dispersed; this occurred when some of the sardar's troops from the rear fired on the main body of the army. This was apparently the result of the discord that existed benseen the omcers of the sardar about some unreliable troops; some officers wanted to disarm them, while others were against doing so.⁶⁷In the heat of the battle, these troops, which according to one source, were the three Kabuli regiments that had surrendered in the battle of and according to another⁶⁹were the Herati and Kabuli regiments, fired on the Kandahari troops and the mullas and talilß. The latter constituted the core of the army of the sardar.

The retreat and dispersal of Ayyub Khan's troops were also due to the discord of his offcers that the sardar's army had been with- drawn from inside the city to a suburb near Chilzeena, close to the old city (Shahr-e-Kohna) where the armies fought. The relocation, which was intended to save civilians from being killed and property from being destroyed, created fear among the troops of the sardar while, conversely, it emboldened the amir's troops. ⁷⁰The relocation . was looked upon as a retreat for the arrny of the sardar and an advance for that of the amir. Also, unlike the amir who "was everywhere deploying and reinforcing his troops" and was ' 'in full control

⁶⁶Riyazi, '4yn al-Waqgpt* 206. According to Mohammad Hashim, a native agent of the British, the total number of the amir's army was 14,000 while that of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan was 17,000. Hashim to St. John, 26 Sept 81, PSLI, 30, 8. But Sultan Mahomed's figures for the former are 22,000 and for the latter are 20,000. The Life of Abdur Rahman, I, 212. The figures noted by Hashim seem to be more accurate.

Riyazi, •Ayn al-Waqgvi^t, 211.

Ibid., 208.

Mohammad Hashim to St. John, 26 Sept. 81, PSI—I, 30, 81. ⁷⁰Riyazi, al-Wapi^t, 211.

already noted, the Maiwand battle had made Ayyub Khan an unquestionable hero.

Riyazi, •Ayn al-Waqgvi^t, 211.

Ibid., 208.

Mohammad Hashim to St. John, 26 Sept. 81, PSI—I, 30, 81. ⁷⁰Riyazi, al-Wapi^t, 211.

on that account had made it a sanctuary. ⁷+ With the exception of the province of Nlaymana which was pacified in 1884, all of Afghanistan was, thus, brought under the control of the central government, and reunited.

As the result of his victory at Xlaiwand, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan had become so popular that his presence e',cn in Mashhad was considered a threat to the amir's rule. The British once again helped the amir; in order to neutralize the danger, and also to keep the amir under pressure the British Government of India, in 1887, persuaded Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan as well as Persia to make a deal in which Ayyub Khan agreed to live in India. India granted Persia a handsome sum of money in return for this deal. In 1888, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, accompanied by over eight hundred followers, arrived in Karachi via Iraq (where the author Effendi was born) and settled in Lahore on an allowance. The British never before or afterward had such an Afghan dignitary with so many followers in India.

As a resident of India, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan was not the same person that he had been in his native land. According to his son, "While in Afghanistan and Iran he was virile and active, in India he became morose and reserved. "75 Content with the life of a 'Royal Mendicant' he kept his distance from the British officials, declining even . to draw the increment in his allowance, which rendered his financial position deplorable" and also affected his twelve sons and seven daughters and several uåves. ⁷⁶In 1907, he visited first Kashmir and later Japan. Living with the dignity of a fallen hero among his conservative followers, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, who was the epitome of Afghan patriotism, "died in his sleep of heart failure, caused by chronic blood pressure" in 1914, at the

agc of fifty-seven.

1bB., 30.

^ISEhndi, Royals 272. Ibid., 231.

c:HAP1'ER

THE PACIFICATION OF EASTERN AFGHANISTAN

The preceding chapters have described the events that led to the establishment of the rule of Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan. This and the following chapters describe how he extended the government authority throughout Afghanistan.

Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, who was well experienced in the politics of his people and their intractable elders; knowledgeable about the willingness of elders of some minority ethnic groups to undergo foreign domination; and concerned about the presence of dynastic rivals in the neighboring lands as well as about the danger to Afghanistan posed by the Russians and the British, took a wide range of measures for the institution of a centralized government in order to safeguard the country as well as to ensure his dynastic rule. This two-pronged program made it necessary for him to build up a strong army and create sources of income by imposing a wide range of taxes. All of these measures enabled him to rule the country directly through government officials. He was, thus, the first Afghan ruler to do so in a country where people resented government control of their autonomous communities. The people most of whom were small landowners and landless peasants living within an agrarian economy opposed the taxes, as well as the amir's absolutist style of ruling. The amir, neiertheless, pushed his program, and this resulted in over forty uprisings of which I have studied only the major ones. ^I

The minor failed rebellions not studied in the present study are, as follows, and the source of all references to this entry is Siraj al-Tawarikh, vol. 3: a rebellion in Panjsher in 1881 (l Il, 384); a rebellion in Sedrah in Nijrao in 1181 (385); a rebellion in Rustaq and Badakhshan until crushcd in 1 882 (395); a r&llion by the Nurzays of Dehrawud in Kandahar in 1881 (398); a rebellion by the inhabitants of Khost in 1881 (401); a rebellion by Patanzay Achakzays in 1881 (406); a rebellion in Katawaz and Zurmula (Zurmut) in 1882 (407); a rebellion in Farajghan n Laghman in 1882 (401); a rebellion in the Ghassak valley in Nijrao in 1882 (413); a rebellion in Chaghanserai in Konarr in 1882 (413); a rebellion by the Achakzays in 1883 (416, 417); a rebellion in the part of the Alishung valley in laghman in 1883 (441); a rebellion in Waigal, Kulman and Sao in Laghman in 1885 (443); a rebellion in Pasha in the district Of Jalalabad in 1885 (592); a relxllion by the Sapays of Konan iri 1886 (490); a rebellion in Baghran in 1886

C.H.AFYI*F.R

The Eastern Province

64 C.H.AFYI*F.R

The Eastern Province

CHAVITR

rivers, while those of the Lower Mohmand reside in the northwestern corner of the relatively fertile Peshawar plain.

The city of Peshawar is in the Mohmand country, and members

of the Khalil and Khwaezay divisions are conspicuous among its inhahtants. Both parts of Nlohmand are divided into the main divisions of the Tarakzays, Baezays, Halimzays and Khwaezays. These divisions are the descendants of the Masayzay, who, along with Uthmanzay and Dawaizay are the descendants of Mohmand, known as Mohmand Baba. The Mohmands like the Durranays and Yusufzays are the descendants of Sarbun. The first known dwelling place of the Mohmands was Murgha, east of Kandahar from which they, like rmny other divisions of eastern Pashtuns, migrated first to Ghazni and then to their present land, in the sixteenth century. It was after their here that they were divided into the two parts.

In both parts the very strict Masayzay code known as dode cando (Code of Grando?) is applied in criminal cases such as theft, homicide, adultery. rape, etc. In these matters this code rather than the Shari^ta is applied even though the latter is the law of the land, and the clergy enjoy considerable influence among the Mohmands. In controversial cases, the Masayzay code specifies that certain households in both parts of the Mohmand are authorized to act as courts of appeal. Their verdict is final with no right of appeal.^[2]

The inhabitants of the two parts of Mohmand did not have much dealing with each other. Strangely, the inhabitants of the Lower Mohmand were mild by comparison to those of the Upper Mohmand who were warlike. Also, the power of the khans of the Upper Mohmands had developed greatly, and, among them the khan of Lalpura was the most important, and the other khans of significance were those of Pandiali and Goshta. Carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, barber, and potters lived in almost all of the villages of the Mohmands, as in those of other tribes; a special group of people, the Parachas, carried on trade among them.

The only khan (head of a tribe with feudal privileges) who retained his position throughout the reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan was the khan of La]pura, Mohammad Akbar Khan. Lalpura was

66 CHAVITR

rivers, while those of the Lower Mohmand reside in the northwestern corner of the relatively fertile Peshawar plain.

The city of Peshawar is in the Mohmand country, and members

The only khan (head of a tribe with feudal privileges) who retained his position throughout the reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan was the khan of La]pura, Mohammad Akbar Khan. Lalpura was

CHAPTER

Even though the Upper Mohmands were a poor people owing to the shortage of arable land except for that along the Kabul River the cffce of their khanate was more developed than those of " . the little republics of Safed Koh and Tirah" as well as that of the Lower Mohmands. This was due morc to the strategic location of their country than to its tribal structure. As guardians of the Khyber, the khans of Lalpura collected tolls on the Jalalabad—Pcshawar road at Dakka, and levied dues on the rafts on the Kabul River. The significance of the Mohmands in the area can be understood from the fact that, as Moutstuart Elphinstone had noted in the early part of the century that "A single Mumand will pass a whole caravan' through the Khyber. For the same reason Kabul paid thc khans of Lalpura allowances for keeping the Kabul road safc as well as for proGding militia in times of emergency. All of this may account for the existence, especially among the khans, Of a destructive sense of competition and the custom of badal (revenge). This destructive custom was so prevalent among the Mohmands that important individuals perished at the hands of rivals than due to natural causes.

In December 1879 the people of the Upper Mohmand rose in protest after the British in Kabul deported Amir Mohammad Ya'qub Khan to India. Soon a split cxcurred among elders of the uprising and Mohammad Akbar Khan accepted the position of ruling the Upper Mohmand from the British " . . on condition of his loyalty and good services to the British Government. "6 In return, Akbar Khan supplied the British forces with provisions and opposed the jihad movement against them,⁷so keeping the intractable Mohmands in as ordered as could be expected.^e

After the withdrawal of the British forces from Afghanistan, the amir gradually stripped Akbar Khan of his privileges by taking over the management of the road,⁹and in 1883, confiscating the Lalpura tolls. ^l• Before that Akbar Khan's annual income amounted to about one hundred thousand rupees. Afterward the amir paid him allowances in return for his agreement to serve the state with militias in times

Bographical Accounts of Chiefs, Sirdars and Others of Afghanistan, Official publication, Calcutta, 1888. Henceforth BACA, 31. Ibid.

Griffn to Ste%zrt, 8 May 80, PSLI, 33, 512.
Peshawar Diary CPD), 18 Sept. 80, PSI-I, 34, 9.
Mohammad Akbar Khan to Peshawar Commisioner, 30 Nov. 83, PSI-I, 38,

of emergency. ^IJ Akbar Khan had no alternative but to comply: first, his request . . for the intervention of the British Government met with the reply that he comply with the orders received from . . . the second, among his many peers, Akbar Khan vcas only the first among equals, and had brothers and cousins, who were formidable rivals.

The Pacha of Konan

For centulies the long and narrow valley of Konarr (Kunar) with Pashat as its main town had been ruled by a Pashtunizcd reputedly sayyed family Of ^CArab descent. Sayyed Termizi, known as the Pir Baba, who had accompanied Mohamrnad Zahir al-Din Babur from Terrmiz, was the founder of the family. His shrinc in the village of Paucha in Bonair is venerated to the present day. Emperor Humayun, who was the son and successor of Babur, had granted him Konarr free of revenue. His descendants known local)v as de Konarr pachayaun (rulers of Konarr) as well as de Konan soyedaun (sayyeds of Konarr) gradually became secular. They took the revenue at the rate of one-third of the production of the land¹⁴and in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries their annual income fluctuated between sixty thousand and eighty thousand rupees. ¹⁵According to Malcolm Yapp, they

. had successfully maintained a substantial degree of indepen&nce of the Kabul Government but under the Barakzays there began a series of attempts to bring the area under control. . . . In 1834 Sayyid Faqir was deposed by Dost Mohammad and Sayyid Baha al-Din made ruler on his undertaking to pay an annual tribute of 19,000 rupees. In 1839 Baha al-Din was deposed and replaced by his brother, Sayyid Hashim, who agreed to pay 28,000 rupees per annum, ¹⁶

PD, 31 May 83, PSLI, 44, 860. Noelle, stau and Tribe cntu,y Ughanistan, 183.

BACA, 32. '3 Ibid.

Statement by Sayyed Mahmud, 1893, PSI-I, 67, 1078. Siyal, Zeeno Pa-htano @ba'lo Shajaray, 86.

Noelle, State and Tribe in .Mnzeenth Cattur Afghanistan, 193.

¹⁶Yapp, M. E., "Disturbances in Eastern Afghanistan, 1339—42", BSOAS, pt 3, 1962, 504.

The Pacha of Konan

PD, 31 May 83, PSLI, 44, 860. Noelle, stau and Tribe cntu,y Ughanistan, 183.

BACA, 32. '3 Ibid.

Statement by Sayyed Mahmud, 1893, PSI-I, 67, 1078. Siyal, Zeeno Pa-htano @ba'lo Shajaray, 86.

Noelle, State and Tribe in .Mnzeenth Cattur Afghanistan, 193.

¹⁶Yapp, M. E., "Disturbances in Eastern Afghanistan, 1339—42", BSOAS, pt 3, 1962, 504.

to Kandahar to oust Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan. ²¹Fearful of his son's defection as well as of his own partisanship of the house of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, Nlahmud Pacha refused a summons to Kabul unless he obtained an assurance of his safety from the British Govcn.ment. The pacha also reminded Griffn, who was then the Viceroy's Agent in the Central Province of India, of the services that he had rendered the British Government. The pacha wrote to him that

Up to date as far as lay in my power, I had served the Govcrrment, and incurred a bad name among my clansmen. The service was not rendered with the object that it should bear good fruit in the next world.

The British Government of India and the amir exchanged several letters on the subject. In one letter, Foreign Secretary Alfred Lyall even addressed the amir in an unusually complimentary langmge, stating that the viceroy "is assured that the feelings of justice for which Your Highness is so distinguished will make you hesitate of visiting upon Syud Ahmad [Sayyed Mahmud] the sins of his son. "23 This failed to impress the amir as in reply he wrote that if the pacha

. . . comes with the purity of heart to pay his respect to me . . . I will not punish him for the sins of his son. Should actions prove contrary to his professions, I shall have no Other course but to drive him away.

When it had occupied Afghanistan, the British Government of India considered Konarr as well as Kandahar, strategically important. Consequently, it gave explicit guarantees to the rulers of both. Like Kandahar, Konarr was situated on a road leading ultimately to Central Asia and western China. Also, from the upper part of Konarr, one road led to Chitral and another to the territories of the tribes along the northwestern parts of India, territories that were part of Afghanistan but at that time were not under centralized administrative control. From the lower part of Konarr was a road leading to Jalalabad. Despite the strategic importance of Konarr the Government of India reneged on its promise to the ruler of Konarr,

Amir 'Abd al-Rahman to Ghüzay elders, AB Ctn Ghazni), 16 Aug. 81, PSI-I, 29, 1014.
Sawed Mahmud to Griffn, PSI—I, 33, 514.
Lyall to Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, 12 Jan. 82, PSLL, 33, 514. Amir 'Abd al-Rahman to Lyan, I Feb. 82, psu, 33, 414.

just as it had to the ruler of Kandahar. It did so because, due to much wider considerations, it had pledged to assist the amir in the consolidation of his rule, and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of his kingdom. Nevertheless in the same manner that the govemment of India had backed away from Kandahar it likewise backed away from Konarr. It did so because, due to much wider considerations, it had pledged to assist the amir in the consolidation of his rule, and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of his kingdom. The viceroy then left the fate of the pacha to the amir's mercy, arguing that because of its geographical location

. the possessions Of the Bad-shah are so situated as to render it imposSible to give him any active assistance without the violation Of the amir's territory in a manner amounting practically to an act of war.²⁵

In November 1882, after an. advance was made against him by a contingent of the government army, the pacha, who had been abandoned by his British ally, and was opposed by his own people for his pro-British activities, fled first to Mittai and later in 1886 to Hassan Abdal, in India. Soon afterward, Kabul established direct control over Konarr. During his residence in India, the pacha lived on a British allowance, and returned to Konarr after the amir had died in 1901.

The Shinwarays

Kabul treated the Shinwarays more leniently than it treated other tribes because they kept the road to the Khyber pass open. Kabul also allowed them to levy tolls on the road to Peshawar and, in addition, paid allowances to them.2⁶It even exempted two of their divisions—Sangu Khel (or Sun Khel) and Sipai—from paying revenue. The Shinwarays have four main divisions, the others are Ali Sher Khcl and Mandozays. The Shinwarays, though a very important tribe, had no one khan or elder as influential as that of the Mohmands.

Kabul changed its policy in 1882, when Amir 'Abd al-Rahman garrisoned Dakka²⁷Prior to the rebellion, the Shinwarays sent a jirga

²³Ripon to Hartington, 23 Dec. 82, PSLI, 34, 221.

6 Jenkyns, W., A Report on the District of Jalalabad, Chiefly in regard to

Revenue, Calcutta, Offcial publication, 1879, 12—15. PD, 18 Dec. 82, PSI-I, 34, 9.

THE PACIFICATION OF EASTERN AFGKANISTA.N

(a council or deputation of elders) to the amir to discuss the restoration of what they called their 'rights'. The amir imprisoned the jirga and executed some of its members. During this time he declared the introduction for the first time in the whole of the eastern province, including the Shinwar (land of the Shinwarays) the three-portion system of taxation on land (se-kot) whereby landouners were demanded to pay one third of their revenue to the government. ^2BThe Shinvarays opposed the new measures, but in 1883 they were defeated in a battle with the government army, led by General Ghulam Hayder Khan Orakzay.

The battle hardened the attitude of the Shinwarays, especially when more radical younger members assumed leadership after some of their elders were killed in the battle.²⁹The new leaders rejected the concessions which required them to pay a tithe ('ushr), or onetenth of their revenue, to the government, instead of one-third, provided they agreed to be disarmed and hostages taken from them.³⁰Several battles were fought in many of which the Shinwarays were routed. They then fled to the upper part of the Spin Ghar Mountain, but still persisted in their demand that the amir should completely annul the revenue. The victorious army burned their houses and destroyed their crops. The Shinwarays resorted to robbery, announcing, "We have no mind to return to our country, and we do not care for the amir. We will support ourselves by plunder and

In 1885, Ghulam Haydar Khan Charkhay, the Sipah Salar, (commander-in-chief) took over the administration of the eastern province in both civil and military affairs. His arrival signaled hope for a settlement as he sent many jargas to the Shinwarays. Although the jirgas failed to bring about a settlement, they caused dissension among the Shinwarays.³²Some of the Shinwarays stood for a settlement, while others opposed it. During the uprisings of the Ghilzay in 1886 (See Chapter Five) and of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan in 1888 (See Chapter Six), the amir adopted a conciliatory attitude

²⁸Gazetteer of Afghanistan, pt. 4, Kabul, Offcial p±hcation, Calcutta, 1910, 495. Henceforth GAK GAK, 488.

so PD, 1 June 83, PSLI, 36, 1549.

Shinwaray elders to General Ghulam Haydar Orakzay, Il May 85, PSLI, 44, 1079.

³²Monthly Memorandum (Henceforth MM), Sept. 86, PSLI, 48, 511.

toward the Shinwarays. During these periods, many Jtrgas attempted a settlement, but failed to produce a substantial result.

Although the Shinwaray elders agreed to pay revenue in proportion to the quality of the land,³³and although the Sangu Khel section accepted the payment of a tithe and the stationing of a governmen—appointed judge (qazi) in their region,³⁴the bulk of the tribesmen rejected the agreement, because they had lost faith in the amir. Compelled by the tribesmen the elders wrote to the amir, stating,

We are ready to submit to Your Highness's authority . . . but two things prevent us from carrying these wishes into effect: first, that we are in poverty and are compelled to commit depredations; allowances should be fixed upon us; secondly, Your Highness's subjects are in great straits; both days and nights arrests are made. Most Of the Khugianis and Mohmands have fled on account of oppression. How can we be consoled and assured that we will be treated well?³⁵

However, the Shinwaray elders made this plea too late, for by then the tribesmen had lost their unity.

After the other, more serious uprisings elsewhere had been put down, the amir began to pressure the Shinwarays to submit to his authority. Toward the end of 1888 he dispatched tribal militias from other parts of Ningrahar³⁶and the district of Taga0³⁷which, together with government troops and some Afridays and Shinwarays of the occupied areas, defeated the Sangu Khel, the most determined of the Shinwarays.^3BAlthough they were still far from being defeated, their position had actually become untenable, since by then they had been driven to the upper parts of the Spin Ghar Mountain, and the Sangu Khel were living under extremely harsh conditions. Exhausted, they finally agreed to pay half a rupee per half acre of land (jarib) as revenue." However, the Sangu Khel still held out until 1892, when the tribe as a whole settled down.⁴⁰

The extension of the government authority in Shinwar illustrates how the government tried to extend its authority elsewhere, especrally

Col. 'Atta Allah, British agent in Kabul, 17 Feb. 88, PSLI, 52, 1073.

³⁴PD, 22 Feb. 88, PSLI, 52; 768.

Shinwaray elders to Amir %Abd al-Rahman, 16 Mar. 88, PSLI, 53, 511. PD, 28 Nov. 88, psu, 55, 1243.

" PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I, 55, 1368.

MM, Mar. 89, PSLI, 56, 1072.

'9 col. •Atta Allah (in Mazar), 5 Nov. 89, PSLI, 58, 849. GAK, 500.

74 CHAPTER FOUR

toward the Shinwarays. During these periods, many Jtrgas attempted a settlement, but failed to produce a substantial result.

However, the Shinwaray elders made this plea too late, for by then the tribesmen had lost their unity.

The extension of the government authority in Shinwar illustrates how the government tried to extend its authority elsewhere, especrally

Col. 'Atta Allah, British agent in Kabul, 17 Feb. 88, PSLI, 52, 1073.

³⁴PD, 22 Feb. 88, PSLI, 52; 768.

Shinwaray elders to Amir %Abd al-Rahman, 16 Mar. 88, PSLI, 53, 511. PD, 28 Nov. 88, psu, 55, 1243.

" PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I, 55, 1368.

MM, Mar. 89, PSLI, 56, 1072.

'9 col. •Atta Allah (in Mazar), 5 Nov. 89, PSLI, 58, 849. GAK, 500.

While Bajaur itself was a dependency of Jalalabad.•• Importantly, Asmar held a key position in the territories further east and because of this significance it can be compared to the Khyber Pass, as a gate to India.

Over two thousand three hundred years ago, Alexander the Great Of Macedonia chose Konarr, not Khyber, for his advance on India. The people he encountered there, as well as in Bajaur and Swat, during his military campaign, from November 327 BCE to February 326 BCE, were called Aspasians and Acvaka [the Asva—Ghana of

Sanskrit and Abgan of the middle Persian] from which the names

Yusufzay and Afghan have evolved. In the words of the historian Peter Green,

most Of the tribesmen he came against proved themselves first class fighters. During one engagement he got an arrow through his shoulder; and by the end of the campaign his condition can perhaps best be described as jittery.

In 1892, the easy pacification of Konarr and the stationing of govemment troops in Asmar under Sipah Salar Ghulam Haydar Charkhay became a signal for the pacification of Bajaur and the regions further east. Because of the conflicting policies of the khans of Bajaur, there was even a strong impression among its inhabitants that their khans might accept the amir's rule.'6

Béaur, Dir and Swat

The vast territories of Bajaur, Dir and Swat were autonomous principalities or khanates commonly known asyghistan (the land of rebels), to the east of the Konarr valley from which they were separated by a rocky mountain. Numerous divisions of the Pashtun Yusufzay and Mandir tribal confederation, their clients (hamsayas), and others populated the three khanates. The relatively fertile region of Bajaur is

Fayz Mohammad, al-Tawarikh, 749.

Kakar, '(khan, Afghanistan and the Afghans and the Organization pf State in India,

Persia and A%haniftan, (in Persian), Kabul University press, 1979, 17. Kohzad, murnad

Ali, 4*anistan Yaahnana, (in Persian) [Afghanistan in th Shahnama], Baihaqi Book Publishing House, Kabul, 1976, 288. Green, peter, Akxand« ofAfac& 336—323 BC, A Hi_sørital Biou*, University Of California Press, 1992, 382.

s PD, 23 Feb. 722.

THE PACIFICATION OF EASTERN AFGHANISTAN 77

comprised of the five valleys of Charmang, Babuqara, Sur Kamar, Rud and Mamun< (or Watalai). Nawagai, the seat of the khanate, lies in the Sur Kama," valley. Bajaur is peopled principally bv theYusufzay Tarkanays, but Mohmands, Sapays, Uthman Khel and others also live there. Although outnumbered by other groups of people, the Yusufzays and Mandirs were supreme in the region as a whole on account of ovcning the land and wcrc as important thcrc as the Durranays were in Kandahar. (The Durranays and Yusufzays are descendants of a common ancestor, the Sarbun.)

A khan ruled over a khanate, maintained some troops, and collected revenue on the basis of a tithe ('ushr). However, his power was limited by a Jtrga (council) of the heads of clans among whom the khan was the first among equals. No khan's position was secure or permanent, though some were khans because their fathers had been khans. On the whole, a khan was powerful when he had a strong character and many relatives with a substantial follow•ing among the minor khans under his jurisdiction. Only with the approval of the elders did he have the right to levy a tithe as tax and recruit men for military service in times of war."

During the period under discussion, ^COrnara Khan (Urnra Khan) of Jandol emerged as the most powerful khan. Situated between the Bajaur and Panjkora rivers, Jandol had many khans known as Mast Khel. Among them ^COmara Khan, son of Aman Khan Tarkanay, finally emerged victorious, and by 1890 he made himself the khan of Jandol as a result of a decade-long struggle." He scored the victory that made him powerful in 1890 when he occupied Dir, and expelled Mohammad Sharif Khan. The defeated khan who was a member of the ruling house founded by Mulla Ilyas, known as the Akhund Baba, took refuge in Swat. By expelling the khan of Dir,

^COmara Khan threatened the mehlar (ruler) of the principality of Chitral. By the middle of 1891, he likewise threatened Nawagai and, tö a lesser extent, Swat.⁴⁹

Mornand, M. J. Siyal, Da Zeno Pashtano @ba'ib Shéaray, 97. Yapp, M. E., "Disturbances in eastern Afghanistan, 1839—42", reprinted from the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. xxv, part 3, 1962, 500, Noelle, State and Tribe in Mtnetenth Cent" Afghanistan, 178.

⁴⁸Impena! Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series, Norå West hontiet hovince, Calcutta, 1908, 129. Henceforth GNWFP.

MM, Apr. 120. Siyal, Da Zeno Pasht.ano QabaUo Sh4aray, 92,

'Omara Khan's rapid rise to power turned many khans against him. Safdar Khan, the khan of Bajaur, made an alliance with Mohammad Sharif Khan, the exiled khan of Dir.³⁰Additionally, Mian Gul 'Abd al-Wadud of Swat incited the people in his domain against 'Omara Khan;^hlhis support was important because he was the son of %Abd al-Ghafur Khan, who was known as the Akhund of Swat, as well as the Ghous (Saint) of Saido or the Babajee of Swat, and was the most celebrated former ruler of Swat. Among his many disciples some were as influential as he himself was such as Mulla and Mulla Najm al-Din. The Mohmands of

Mitui likewise supported the khans who were against 'Omara Khan in their endeavors2²

The amir supported Safdar Khan with larger allowances, and even expressed willingness to support him with troops if necessary.⁵³The concentration Of troops at Asmar under the command cf C•huiam Haydar Khan Charkhay, himself a Yusufzay Pashtun, had changed the balance of power in favor of the latter, in particular after his troops scored a victory in Shurtan, in Bajaur.⁵⁴The defeat of 'Omara Khan and the extension of the amir's rule in Bajaur seemed imminent. However, at this juncture the Government of India warned the •ah salar as well as ^COmara Khan not to move against each other. Specifically, it warned the former that his advance into Bajaur would be regarded as an act of hostility to the Government of India "55 The strong tone of the warning indicated the resolve of the British to implement its Forward Policy, which culminated in concluding the Durand Agreement in 1893 (See Chapter Ten).

Although the amir maintained his claim to Bajaur, he instructed the sipah salar not to advance on it. As for ^COmara Khan, the British finally forced him to flee to Afghanistan after he, in conjunction with Sher Afzal, the pro-Kabul exiled brother of the mehtar of Chitral, occupied that principality in 1895. Thus, a remarkable khan, the socalled 'Napoleon of Bajaur' was forced out of the region. He had,

MM, May 91, PSLI, 63, 497.

PD, 21 July 91, PSLI, 63, 1068.

³²PI), 13 June 91, PSLI, 63, 624. In 1917, Mian Gul was acclaimed as the ruler of Swat, and later in 1926 recognized by the British as the wali of Swat. Siyal, Zeno Pashtanao 89.

PD, 8 Aug. 91, PSI-I, 63, 1183.

PD, 28 June 92, PSLI, 67, 308. PD, 28 June 308.

THE PACIFICATION OF EASTERN AFGHANISTAN 79

through statesmanship and military action, carved out a kingdom that comprised Dir, Jandol. and Chitral and, like the amir; he had been determined to overrun Bajaur and Kafiristan. The exiled Mohammad Sharif Khan became the khan of Dir once again, this time with the additional title of nawab (ruler). This occurred in 1897 through an agreement qith the British in which they undertook to pay him a regular allowance and grant him weapons in return for his keeping the road to Chitral open. He ruled the khanate until he died in 1904. ³⁶

Kuma

From latc 1891 onward, Kurma (Kurram), inhabited by Shi% 'Ali Khel Pashtuns, commonly known as the Turis (the Blackened) was frequently raided by the neighboring Sunni tribal, elders and mullas, who had been encouraged to do so by Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan.⁵⁷Finally a widely known adventurer, Sarw•ar Khan of Chinarak, nicknamed Chikkai, who had given much trouble to the British at Kohat, occupied Lower Kurma (Kuz Kurrna) and the Turis paid him revenue.⁵⁸This occurred after Chikkai and his armed men returned from Kabul where the amir had received him with unusual honor. "39 Having given up hope of recovering the territory⁶⁰the Turis concluded a truce with Chikkai, according to which they agreed to let him retain Lower Kurma, while he agreed to make no further advances. ⁶¹

The amir tried to make the Turis his subjects, but he wanted to do this through a proxy to avoid antagonizing the Government of India, which had already told him that Kurrna would not be restored to Afghanistan.⁶²By the treaty of Gandumak Kurrna had first been conditionally assigned to the Government of India, and later annexed

% Siyal, De Zeeno Pzshtano Qba'ilo Shajargy, 92.

Derajat Confidential Diary, 15 Dec. 91, PSI-I, 65, 513. Fayz Mohamrrud, Sirg al-Tawaikh, 826.

KD, 4-8 Dec. 91, psu, 69, 1706.

59 MM, Oct. 91, PSLI, 66, 1324. MM, June 91, PSLI, 66, 1323.

MM, May 92, PSLI, 66, 884.

⁶²Fayz Mohammad, Sir• al-Tawarikh, 82.

by it. After the Government of India exchanged some correspondence with the Amir on the subject, British troops forced Chikkai and others out of Kurrna. in October 1892, and affected a settlement there.^G3The amir remained silent.

The Afidays

Settled in high walled forts and villages in the Khyber, Akhor, Kovwatt and Tirah from ancient times the Afridays or Apridays are the rnost important Pashtun tribe of the historic twenty-three—milelong Khyber Pass extending from Jamrud to Dakka. The Afridays are probably the people known as Aparaytae, described by Herodotus. Due to their mountainous territory, and their hard style of living they have lived beyond the pale of government authority even to the present day. Parts of the Khyber valley are also inhabited by the Mohmands and Shinwarays, but the Afridays are the predomimant tribe. As the guardian of the Khyber, these tribes were collectively referred to as the Khyberays. They were, thus, singularly Important because as a gateway of Central Asia to South Asia, the Khyber Pass served as the shortest thoroughfare for the passage of caravans, conquerors, merchants and people. Additionally, the Khyber Pass directly connected the cities of Peshawar and Jalalabad.

The Khyberays became famous in the latter stage of the Roshaniyya movement when they rose several times in rebellion under the leadership of Aimal Khan Mohmand and Darya Khan Afriday against the Mughal rulers of India. Aimal Khan "who was a born general, declared himself king, struck coins in his name and invited all the Pathan tribes to take part in the national struggle." For four years he kept alive the independence struggle of the Afghans from Kabul to Peshawar. In the Khyber area in 1672, the Pashtuns under his leadership killed 't a large number of soldiers and officers of the [Mughal] empire, . . and enslaved thousands of them." According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India, the entire Mughal army numbering 40,000 soldiers perished in this encounter. The Afridays are divided into the eight distinct divisions of Malik Din Khel, Qambar

⁶³Harris, L, Brigish Policy on the North West Frontier of India, 1889—1901, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis at London University, 1960, 88.

80

The Afidays

⁶³Harris, L, Brigish Policy on the North West Frontier of India, 1889—1901, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis at London University, 1960, 88.

to any or

the more worthily admired for the courage which they show in attack and in hand-to-hand fighting with the sword. "09

Just as other tribes in eastern Afghanistan, the Wazirs of Waziristan also looked on the ruler ot Afghanistan as a Muslim sovereign of their own ethnic stock. In i 883, they invited the amir's omcials to their land, but when the officials arrived there the Kabul Khel section of the tribe drove them away⁷⁰even though a militia of Kabul had been stationed in Wana, a town in Southern Waziristan. Subsequently, however, the Wazirs and Dawars agreed to pay a tithe, but the Biland Khel section incited the speen gund, as opposed to the tore gund against the amir. ⁷¹

Among the Wazirs, as among some other Pashtun tribes, the speen gund (white bloc) and tore gund (black bloc) were two leagues Of tribes traditionally at odds with each other. Although the existence of the leagues should have made it relatively easy for the government to penetrate the Wazirs, it actually made this more difficult. The schism bemeen the two leagues was so pronounced that even the amir's marriages with the daughter of Malik Rahmat Khan and the sister of Malik Tirin Khan did not help him extend his authority in Waziristan. These maliks were probably associated with the tore gund, as one Shahzada, a leader of the speen gund, went so far as to invite Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan to return, promising him the support öf "sixty-thousand" families of the Wazirs and Tanays to unseat the amir. ⁷²Actually, Shahzada resented the allowances, which the amir paid to his relations, fearing that the allowances would strengthen his opponents.

to any or

the more worthily admired for the courage which they show in attack and in hand-to-hand fighting with the sword. "09

to any or

the more worthily admired for the courage which they show in attack and in hand-to-hand fighting with the sword. "09

to any or

the more worthily admired for the courage which they show in attack and in hand-to-hand fighting with the sword. "09

government in their affairs.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

The amir's many booklets on the jihad were addressed mainly to the people of the regions as noted. The progress of his pacification of these areas was slow but steady. After the pacification of the Shinwarays he finally dispatched a military force under his most able government in their affairs.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

Additionally, with regard to some districts of eastern Afghanistan the amir was in a less advantageous position than his predecessors had been. In critical moments of the negotiations for the amirate, the representative of the British Government of India told the then Sardar %Abd al-Rahman Khan that the frontier districts and some passes mentioned in the Gandumak treaty would not be restored. At the time he remained silent, presumably allowing himself space for future political maneuver. After the expulsion of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, the amir embarked on establishing control over the lands of the eastem Pashtuns. However, it took him ten years to pacify the Shinwarays, and also to put down major rebellions elsewhere before he was able to pacify the eastern Pashtuns. Throughout this period, and later, until his death even in spite of the Durand Agreement he concentrated on peaceful penetration. He did so mainly by granting allowances to the Pashtun elders and mullas, employing many mullas and emissaries for this purpose. Also, from nowhere else to the same extent as from these areas did so many jirgas of elders visit Kabul where (he amir treated them as his subjects.

92^[4] CHAPTER FIVE

Probably, as Fayz Mohammad, the omcial chronicler states, Mulla 'Abd al-Karim was declared something similar to badshah (ruler)" \Vhatever the truth, by inviting Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan the rebels planned to oppose the amir more effectively.

The Sulaiman Khel and the Andar took the first step toward rebellion by looting a Durranay army contingent in the Muqur area,²¹and afterward marching on the city of Ghazni. However, in late October 1886, at Talkhakzar [Talkha Guzar?] the army led by General Ghulam Haydar Orakzay defeated them, and the general sent the heads of about two thousand fallen rebels to Kabul where, after the fashion of Timur Lane, a tower of skulls (kala munar) was displayed as a warning to others.^[5]The leading rebels escaped to the country of the Kakars in the British territory.

Confrontation and Suppression

After the victory, the amir instructed General Ghulam Haydar Orakzay to disarm the Andar and their allies. He also instructed him to stop the allowances that the government paid to religious scholar-s, to sell the lands and underground irr*gation canals of those who had escaped, and to confiscate the lands of the Qarabagh region. In addition, he instructed the general to build a fort in Ataghar in the heart of the Hotak land. ^[6]With the exception of the latter the instructions were carried out, the Ghilzays were harshly treated, and their women insulted. The uprising appeared to have been suppressed, although it was the •winter that created that impression.

Meanwhile, the amir tried to isolate the Ghilzays as a whole while he appealed directly to their elders to submit. He also tried to win the support of his own tribesmen, the Durranays, who, until then, were on bad terms with him, warning them that the Ghilzays were after their ruling position.²⁴The Ghilzays had, after their looting of the Durranay contingent, made it known that they had risen against

THE GREAT GHIL7-AY UPRISING AND ITS SCPPRESSION

the amir only, and that they had no quarrel with the Durranays. However. the amir still continucd to incitc them against the Ghilzays, just as he had done the opposite when he was engaged in the fight against Sardar Mohammad Khan. Further, the amir Ict them enjoy their lands free of revenue as before, whereas prior to the Ghilzay uprising he had ordered them to pay it. ^E'

Ultimately, the amir failed to win over other people against the Ghilzays. He succeeded only in weaning the Hazaras from the Ghilzays with the help of the Qizilbashes,²" but failed to win the support of the Tajiks of Ghazni and Kohistan. The amir's notable failure was with the «ulema (Sunni religious scholars), as only a small number of them condemned the Ghilzays as rebels, while most sat on the fence by declaring that he was justified in fighting those who were dangerous to Islam.²⁷This reference could not apply to the Ghilzays because a distinguished scholar, Mulla 'Abd al-Karim-led them in the campaigns against the amir. More importantly, the amir failed in his efforts to calm the rebel leaders, even though he promised them that he would lower their rate of revenue if they desisted from rebelling.²⁸The rebel leaders rejected his overtures, and Mulla ^CAbd al-Karim declared that the amir's tyranny "had exceeded all and that he was an infidel, the extirpator of Islam, worshipper Of himself, and the friend of an alien Government. "30 The nonDurranay Pashtuns of the neighboring lands, including the Kakars, supported the Ghilzays, but among the latter the Tokhays did not participate in the rebellion.3 ¹

The uprising took formidable proportions during the following spring. The tothl number of the rebels was reported to have increased from twenty thousand in March 1887 ³²to one hundred thousand in April. ³³However, after their initial successes in Qalat and Ataghar,³⁴the rebels were defeated at Ataghar,35 Qal^Ca-e-Katal, and still later

Kand D, 25 Jan. 87, PSLI, 48, 487.

26 Fayz Mohammad, Sir' al-Tawarikh, 539, 527, 541.

2' KD, 29 Oct. 86, PSLI, 48, 1137.

PD, 7 Apr. 87, PSI-I, 50, 244.

PD, 8 Jan. 87, PSLI, 49, 283.

PD, 29 Mar. 87, PSI], 49, 1320.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir@ al-Tawariå, 539.

³²MM, Mar. 87, PSI-I, 49, 1281.

3' PD, 7 Apr. 87, PSLI, 50, 243.

" BACA, 178.

RD, 20 May 87, PSLI, 50, 879.

94 CHAPTER FIVE

in Other unspecified the government army under the command of General Ghulam Haydar Khan Orakzay. In its final phase the uprising found support in an unexpected quarter. The Ghilzays in the army at Herat, who had earlier risen in support Of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, ³⁷arrived and joined their recalcitrant kinsmen, and inflicted the final defeat on the army and recovered Nawa in July 1887. $b However, thereafter with the onset of winter and against the well-organized army which was continually reinforced they could no longer fight, and the uprising petered out. About twenty-four thousand Ghilzays were killed in all the clashes.

Ghilzay uprising provided an opportunity for Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan to try his luck once again. However, he traveled in the wrong direction, and failed to arrive at the Afghan border until late September when the uprising was over. Thus, the sardar lost his final opportunity to enter Afghanistan, as by then the amir had fortified the frontiers, and the Persian Government, under pressure from the British Government, had ordered his seizure.³9

The Ghilzay uprising was essentially a war between the government and the Ghilzay landowners, whose power the amir had resolved to break. Among the provocative measures that the amir took, he imposed heavy taxes on the landowners, resulting in the uprising led by the Ghilzay elders. The elders were actively supported in their stand by almost all of their own tribesmen, while others responded with good will, The amir had neither, as he failed to send tribal militias against them, or to obtain a legal ruling (faåva) from the 'ulcma to denounce them as rebels as he had done in response to other rebellious tribes. However, since the Ghilzay. elders had poor weapons and no other means of fighting, they had no chance of success against the well-disciplined and well-equipped army. The uprising illustrated the ineffectiveness of a popular uprising against a well-organized military power.

After their defeat, the amir intentionally disabled the Ghilzay by impoverishing them economically and weakening them politically, doing with a view to preventing future uprisings. YVhat the amir

MN, June 87, PSI-I, 50, 1239.

Riyazi, 'Ayn Wag", 262.
KD, 5 July 87, PSLI, 50, 283.

For Riyazi, al-W*, 226—232. Riyazi had met Ayy•ub when the latter was on his way to Afghanistan.

THE GREAT GHIIÆAY CPRISI.NG AND rrs SUPPRESSION

had once believed about the Andar he now believed about the entire tribe, stating that "when they [Andar] have no money left with them, [they] will not again raise disturbances."" He proved correct in his prediction, and the Ghilzays never rose en masse again. The uprising also had another important consequence; after its suppression the amir drew closer to his own Durranay tribe—in particular, to the Mohammadzay section to which hc belonged. He pro•.ided annual allowances to its membcrs residing in Kabul whether female or male and treated the whole section as a partner of the state (shaHk-e-dawla0.

o The Amir to Na'ib Kotwal of Kabul, RD, 7 Dec. 86, PSLI, 49, 149.

THE GREAT GHIIÆAY CPRISI.NG AND rrs SUPPRESSION 95

o The Amir to Na'ib Kotwal of Kabul, RD, 7 Dec. 86, PSLI, 49, 149.

ΤΗΕ REVOLT 0F SARDAR MOHAMMAD ιςι--Ι.ηρ ΚΗΑΝ

With its excellent cotton and wheat, Balkh was still a kingdom, though a dependency of the Achaemenian Persia, when Alexander the Great invaded it in 330 BCE. Its ruler, Bessus, and his successor, Spitamenes, waged "a nationalist war, with strong religious overtones", and "between them they gave Alexander more continuous trouble than all the embattled hosts of Darius."3 Afterward, in the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian period, "Bactria occupied much of modcm Afghanistan", a country then known as "the land of a thousand cities" The Greek colonists of the post-Alexander period had contributed to this development by fraternizing with the native population so much that, according to Frank Holt, nineteenth century European scholars saw in Bactria the best of all ancient worlds. "4 It was for its grandeur that in the Islamic times Bactria was called urnm al-bilad (the mother of cities), as well as janat al-arz (the paradise of the earth), and khai7 at-turab (the best of soil).⁵However, the city of Balkh was totally destroyed in the Chingizid onslaught of the thirteenth century as were all other cities of Afghanistan. During the second reign of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, the governor of Turkestan, Sardar Mohammad Afzal Khan, transported the debris of Balkh to Takhtapul. During the second reign of Amir Sher %Ali Kham the Shif governor of the region, Na'ib Mohammad 'Alam Khan, enlarged Mazar-e-Sharif (the noble mausoleum) at the expense of Balkh. Mazar was (and still is) assumed to be the site of the shrine Of 'Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam, and the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.⁶There also lie the graves of Ghazi Mohammad Akbar Khan and Amir Sher 'Ali Khan.

³Green, P., Alexander Q/ Macedon, 338. Arrian, The Campaigns of Akxander, transl. by A. de Selincort, Penguin Books, 1958, 229—232. That the inhabitants Of Bactria were patriotic is evident from a statement by Zoroaster as, according to him, instructed by Ahura Mazda: have made ev•ery• land dear to its people, even though it had no charms whatever in it: had I not made every land dear to its people, even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Vaego. The first of the good lands and countHes which l, Ahura Mazda, created was the Airyana Vaego." "Selections from the ZendAvesta", Transl. by Darrncstctter, Jamcs in The .%cred of East, the Colonial Press, New York, MDCCCXCIX, 67.

Holt, Frank L, The numdaüg Zeus, The of Hellenistic Bactri, University of California press, 1999, 9—20.
Leitncr, Dardistan, 10.
McChesney, R. D., Ctnbäl *fid, FÖtå Htåidtd ruts b" a Muslim Shrine, 148—1889. Kakar, Gvtmment and Society of 141.

THE REVOLT OF SARDAR MOHAMMAD ISHAQ KHAN

By the 1830s, Balkh still functioned as a city, but afterward was completely replaced by Mazar as the political and commercial center of the region, and Turkestan comprised al] of the territories lying between the Oxus, the Hindu Kush, the Pamir steppe and Herat.' However, under Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan 1851) Turke:taninhabited by Uzbeks, Arabs, Hazaras, Tajiks, Pashtuns and others with its capital at Mazar, comprised only the plains south of the Oxus between Andkhoy and Badakhshan.

Estrangement Of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq khan

As early as 1881, Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan asked the amir to recognize him as the exclusive owner of Turkestan." Unwiling to provoke the sardar, the amir promised him that he would do so "When all our anxieties and troubles [are over] the "anxieties" he spoke of were caused by the presence of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan in Herat. However, the demand strained relations between the amir and the sardar. When Kandahar and Herat fell in late 1881, and Ayyub Khan was expelled, Ishaq Khan asked the amir to appoint his younger brothers as governors there. The amir refused to do so and instead trusted the sardar with vast power and the authority to keep the revenue of the province to himself. Further, the amir even sent him money from Kabul to consolidate his positiOn in this important frontier province.

Consequently, Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan had de facto independence in Turkestan, although, like all gQvernors, he also sent valuable presents, especially horses, to the amir from time to time. The presentation of gifts by provincial governors to the Kabul ruler was a custom of the land, as was the reading of Friday sermon (khutba) in his name. In Kabul, the amir kept the sardar's three younger brothers apparently as his 'guests', but they were actually hostages.

In 1884, the fall of Maymana proved crucial in the relationship betwccn the amir and Ishaq Khan. Because the latter had undertaken an expedition against Maymana. and because the district had

Wheeler, J. T., Monorandum on Ughan-Turhstan, Calcutta, 1869, Gazet&c Ughaniftan, part 2, Afghan Turkistan, Calcutta, 1912, i—xii. ⁸

Reports are unanimous concerning the popularity of the sardar with the people under his jurisdiction. In fact, even in 1880, the people themselves had chosen the sardar as their governor after he crossed the border from Samarqand where he, •like the amir, had been in exile. More importantly, the sardar's administration was mdd in sharp contrast to that of the amir which was rigid. The contrast between the two men was apparent even more in their characters; the sardar was gentle and pious whereas the amir was stern and rigid.

Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan's adherence to the Naqshbandiyya mystic order of Islam had drawn him closer to the Uzbeks who observed Islam in its 'Cminute detail",⁹and to the Turkmen in particuhr, among whom the order was V4hdespread; ¹0 he had first adhered to the order while he was living in exile in Samarqand. He was also popular with his army which he paid regularly." Because Turkestan was a frontier province, and because it was under the apparent threat of Russia the amir had allowed the sardar to raise a large army, and, in addition, from to time sent him money from Kabul to meet the expenditure. ¹²Thus, the sardar had not been obliged to exact money from the people and make himself unpopular with them.

For the reasons cited, relations between the amir and Ishaq Khan were far from cordial. The amir's efforts at affecting conciliation with the sardar through some influential dynastic members faded to bear fruit. While the amir maintained the facade of good relationship, he tried to remove the sardar from Turkestan. Several times he invited him to come to Kabul. The summons was not unusual, and in line with the amir's policy of removing governors in disgrace before they became wealthy and influential, and then giving their posts to nonMohammadzay sardars, or head servants of the royal court. Govemors from influential families, including those from among the Moham-

and under respond himself

1884, when drew still closer to the people. and became popular, whereas the amir was not. The latter's oppressive rule, which was evident from the desertion of the army and the acceptance of the rebel sardar's claim by the people of Turkestan and Badakhshan helped him in his bid for the amirate of the whole land. Had he shown courage and resoluteness in the critical hour of military confrontation he might have unseated the amir, and changed the course of Afghan history. However, during the fateful hour of the battle, he revealed cowardice and a lack of sound judgment. He fled precipitously, and his flight left the people of Turkestan and Badakhshan at the mercy of the amir who went to .Mazar the next year.

For about one year of his stay in Mazar, the amir took very stern measures against all those who had supported the rebel sardar. Meanwhile, he stepped up anti-Russian rhetoric and arranged for the fortification of military posts along the border, especially in Dehdadi. More important in the long run, the amir encouraged Pashtun and other ethnic groups from the densely populated regions south of the Hindu Kush to settle in the sparsely populated regions north of the Hindu Kush, and to cultivate the plots of state land which the government granted them on favorable terms. ³⁹This land grant continued to be issued until recently as part of the population relocation policy. In particular in the 1930s, Sher Khan Kharotay and Mohammad Gul Khan Nlohmand became, as the nationdly— known governors of Kunduz and Mazar respectively, overzealous in implementing the policy. As a consequence, from demographic perspective, northem Afghanistan became largely mixed and transformed from a dependency into an integral part of the country.

THE

and under respond himself

108 CHAPTER SEVEN

the wali asked the Russian offcials in Merv to occupy Mayrnana, ¹²but they were unable to do so because of thc intervening of the Sabr and Sarik Turkmen of Panjdeh, who were still independent. However, the Russians were reported to have given the wali arms, and in return. the wali hoisted their flag in Mayrnana. ¹³

Meanwhile, the zeaå tried to fortify his position. He was reported to have bought five hundred breach-loading rifles from the Turkmen.

He also asked the Sarik Turkmen of Panjdeh to join him against the Afghans, and as a token of his good will toward them, he reduced tolls on their merchandise destined for Maymana. ¹⁵Next, the wali also asked Fath Allah Khan, head of the Firozkohi tribe of Herat, to come and settle %ith his tribesmen in Maymana, since the latter was also on bad terms with the amir; however this request was futile. ¹⁶At the same time, the walt engaged in correspondence with Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, and then announced that the sardar was coming to Maymana. ^il

The wali's exaction of money from his subjects for the fortification of his defenses caused unrest. ¹⁸About three hundred families from Khairabad emigrated to Andkhoy¹⁹and the Turkmen cultivators of Qara-e-Wali, a dependency of Maymana near Murghab, informed the government's offcial in Herat that they were ready to submit. ²⁰The wali had become so unpopular that it was generally believed that if the amir encouraged the inhabitants of May-mana they would abandon him. ²¹

The early pacification of Maymana was not a compelling necessity for the amir. He only instructed Mir Hussayn Khan, the former wali of Maymana, to replace the incumbent wali, but he failed to do so.²²Meanwhile, the amir instructed Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan, the governor of Turkestan, in Mazar, to keep the wali under

Shahzadah of Khoqand to Commissioner of Peshawar, PD, 23 Sept. 84, PSLI, 42, 123.

HD, 12 Apr. 84, PSLI, 40, 1315.

col. Waterfield, 22 Apr. 82, PSLI, 32, 525.

HD, 14 sept. 82, PSI-I, 34, 385. HD, 12 Dec. 82, psu, 35, 386. ^l' HD, 6 May 82, PSLI, 32, 867. HD, 25 Jan. 83, PSLI, 35, 832.

HD, 6 June 83, psu, 37, 299.

HD, 21 June 83, PSLI, 37, 1066. ²¹Kand D., 3 Oct. 93, PSI-I, 38, 413. ²' BACA, 100.

Herat and Mazar against Maymana, leading to its fall. In the words of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan,

When the people of the city [Of Maymana] saw Your Highness's troops . they were surprised and struck with terror, and came out until their number reached 2,000. Mir Delawar . . . finding himself unable to effect his escape, came over to my camp.2

Mir Hussayn Khan, the former wali of Maymana was appointed as its wali independent of Herat and Mazar, but his power was restricted by a contingent of government troops that were stationed in the district. With the incorporation of Maymana in 1884, the reunification of Afghanistan became complete. However, in 1892, when the Hazara war was in progress, the unli of Maymana, who was a son of the former Wali Mir Hussayn Khan, revolted. The revolt was speedily put down, and thereafter government offcials administered Maynana.

Shighnan and Roshan

The mountainous districts of Shighnan and Roshan in northeastern Afghanistan formed one principality as part of the prmince of Badakhshan with Fayzabad as its capital city. Badakhshan was the first province • over which the amir had extended his authority in January 1880, as previously noted. Shighnan and Roshan as well as the districts of Darwaz and Wakhan lie on both sides Of Panja, referred to erroneously the Upper Oxus in English-language ources. The greater part of Shighnan lies on the right side of the river as far as the Ak-su or the Murghab River. TIns means that the prmince of Badakhshan extends as far as Murghab. The Panja River is narHerat and Mazar against Maymana, leading to its fall. In the words of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan,

Shighnan and Roshan

year, another Russian contingent of two hundred troops under the command of Colonel Yannovsky entered Shighnan, but the Afghans repulsed them as they had already repulsed a Chinese contingent in Alichur, north of Somatash. *Meanwhile, the Russian government in its negotiations with Britain stressed that Kabul should evacuate transShighnan and Roshan. finally, in the same manner that it had acquiesced to Russia's demand on the Panjdeh in 1885, the British Government complied, and urged the amir to do the same. In return, the amir was to occupy the extreme eastern corridor, Wakhan, and a small part of Darwaz to the south of the Panja, which Bukhara was to surrender. The amir consented because, in July 1892, the viceroy had wamed him not to cause any trouble with an active policy on the Pamirs, a . warning that reached him, ironically, at the same time as news of the Afghan casualties in the collision at Somatash.% For eight years prior to the British request, the amir had been under pressure from the British Government of India about the delimitation of his eastern frontiers Chapter I O). In an agreement concluded between the amir and Foreign Secretary Mortimer Durand, in Kabul, on 12 November, 1893 it was decided that the amir

. hereby agrees that he will evacuate all the districts held by him to the north Of this portion Of the Oxus [from Lke Victoria or Sar-ikol on the east to the conjunction of the Kokcha with the Oxus] on the clear understanding that all the districts lying to the south of this position of the Oxus, and now not in his possession, be handed over to him.⁵⁷

The Panja stream remained the boundary between the Russiancontrolled Bukhara and Afghanistan^5Reven though it ^s'. . . is almost unknown as a boundary, and is as artificial as a wire fence or a degree of latitude. "²⁰

Hazarajat, agreed to the stationing of government officials in their territory. Shortly afterward, government officials and troops were stationcd in parts of it, but they oppressed the local population so much that they rose in rebellion that lasted for three years (1891—93). Since the Hazara elders had supported the British in the Second AngloAfghan war, and since, as Shifi Muslims, they had been on bad terms with their Sunni neighbors, they were vulnerable, despite their highland terrain. This enabled the amir to dispatch a large number of troops and militias against them. Ultimately, the Hazaras were overcome; some Durranays and Ghilzays were settled in parts of their land, while their pastures were given to nomads.

The Hazaras live in most parts of the central highland, called the Hazarajat, ^land at times also Hazaristan,²or Barbaristan.³It has litde arable land, six-month long vvinters and vast pastures. The Hazarajat was divided into 15 regions or districts (Olgas or each of which was ruled by one family, notably the Beg family of Dai Zangi (also called the toll sardaz, which owned the whole of Dai Zangi) and the Ibrahim Beg family of Dai Kundi. ⁵The Hazara ruling elders, or mirs were so powerful that they ruled their respective communities as they pleased, without recourse to councils. They even sold the children of the Hazara commoners into slavery. Hazara women performed domestic chores and bore children as if they existed only to

Smaller groups of Hazaras settled in the provinces of Herat, Turkestan and

126

parucularly Kabul. In 1838. Alexander Burncs noted that "All the drudgery and in Kabul is done by some Hazaras, some Of whom arc slaves and sonic' free: in winter there are not less than ten thousand v•ho reside in the city. and gain a livelihood by clearing the roofk Of snow and acting as porters. " thc Hazara shared their neighbors was Islam. although even with regard to this they •.vcrc distinct from them. As previously noted, most Hazaras wcrc Shi'a.s, and only somc wcrc Sunnis, whereas their neighbors v.•ere all Sunnis. Consequently, the Hazaras were 's . . . oppressed by all their ncighboring nations, whom they served as hcwcrs of and drawers of The oppression began with the decline Of the -'Mongol power, a situation Ihat enabled their neighbors to expel them from their pasture encampments and besiege them in their present highland, just as they had besieged the Kafirs in Kfflristan. Their neighbors even viewed them as 'infidels' (kgårs) and thereby justified their sale, ²⁶although the sale of Muslims was forbidden in Islam.

Down to the reign of Amir Sher (Ali Khan, the Uzbeks and Turkmens enslaved and sold the Hazaras in Turkestan as well as Central Asia. Although the Hazaras of Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi and the Shaykh %Ali Hazaras, sent slaves as tributes to Mir Murad 'Ali, ruler of Qunduz, when they were subject to his rule²⁷the Uzbeks and Turkmens still sent raiding parties into the Hazarajat until they were checked by the government during the reign of Amir Sher %'Mi Khan, and by the development of local fortifications in northern Hazarajat.²⁸Of the Char Aimaq who were 'Sat hereditary enmity with the Hazaras"29 the hrozkohis enslaved them, sold them in Bukhara ³⁰The Jamshedis enslaved the Hazaras even though on a smaller scale up to the last year of the nineteenth century, after which time they were unable to do so because of the pressure applied by the government. The Russian authorities also checked the sale of the Hazaras in Panjdeh.

Burnes. Cabool, 231.

25 Ibid.

Favz Mohammad, Sirgi al-Tawahkh, 543.

Wood, The Sources of the Oxus, 128—129.

Canfield, R., Faction and Conyrsion in a Plural Society, Alignments in the Hindu Kush, Ann Arbor, 1973, 93.

²⁹Harlan, J Centml Asia, Personal Of General Harlan, 1823—1841, edited by Ross, F. E., London, 1939, 152. HD, I Feb. 94, PSI-I. 73, 1228.

126

Burnes. Cabool, 231.

25 Ibid.

Favz Mohammad, Sirgi al-Tawahkh, 543.

Wood, The Sources of the Oxus, 128—129.

Canfield, R., Faction and Conyrsion in a Plural Society, Alignments in the Hindu Kush, Ann Arbor, 1973, 93.

²⁹Harlan, J Centml Asia, Personal Of General Harlan, 1823—1841, edited by Ross, F. E., London, 1939, 152. HD, I Feb. 94, PSI-I. 73, 1228.

128 ( :HAPTF.R EIGHT

Another serious offcnsc committed bv the Hazara was their sacking of Ghazni at thc instigation of thc British oflicials during the Second Anglo-Afghan war. when the Sunni inhabitants v,erc fighting the British army in Kabul. ⁴" In particular, the Hazaras of Jaghuri and of other areas cooperated \Vith Gcncral Donald Stewart against the Ghilzavs ',vhen hc was on his wav from Kandahar to Kabul in April 1880. At Allmad Khel. south of Ghazni, over fourteen tl)ousand Ghilzays and others attacked and nearly routed the British army of over four thousand men, but at the end of the conflict they lost over one thousand men to the superior weapons and thc good discipline Of the British." Aftcr the Ghilzays had fled, the Hazaras looted their houses and insulted their women.

The Historical Background

In the early sixteenth century, when he ruled Kabul, Mohammad Zahir al-Din Babur did not invade the Hazarajat even though he passed Bamiyan in the late fifteenth century. Thereafter, Bamiyan, though not considcrcd a part of thc Hazarajat, ^S8but an important center linking the Oxus River, the Indus River and the Hazarajat, rcmancd morc or less open to expeditions, which were undertaken by his successors, notably Emperor Shah Jahan (1628—1658). \Vhilc the Emperor Shah Jahan's attempts at invading the Hazarajat did not succeed, ³⁹the Safavi emperor, Shah ^CAbbas I (158 7—1629) influenced the Hazaras by appointing an elder over them.⁴⁰It was probably during this period that the Shi'i faith of Islam began to replace the shamanism of the Hazaras, although exactly who persuaded the Hazaras to accept the new faith, and also when they

't' Fav7 Mohammad, Sirgi al-TawaHkh, 403.

.At Ahmed Khcl, on April 19, 1880, the Ghilzays wcrc compriSed of 1,000 horse and 13,000 foot soldiers against a diesion of thc British troops numbering 3,000 r:llcs. 350 lances, 700 sabers. and 22 guns. Trousdale in MacGregor, IVar in Afghanistan, 1 78n. The Ghilzays had no guns and were also poorly armed. See also Robson, B. The Road to Kabul, 77ie Second Afghan Jl'ar, Arms and Armour press, London New York, 1986, 194, 195.

Bacon, The Hazam Mongols af Ughanistan, 8. RiNazi, 'Ayn al-lfaqgpr, 248. '0 GÅK, (1895), 277.

128 ( :HAPTF.R EIGHT

The Historical Background

't' Fav7 Mohammad, Sirgi al-TawaHkh, 403.

Bacon, The Hazam Mongols af Ughanistan, 8. RiNazi, 'Ayn al-lfaqgpr, 248. '0 GÅK, (1895), 277.

1 30 CHAPI"F.R EIGHT

various other kinds of new taxes were imposed, and subgmernors thakms) appointed to rule over them. Only the mirs of the Dai Zangi and Dai Kundi Hazaras were allowed to administer their communities in return for the support they had given the amir against Sardar Nlohammad Ayyub Khan and Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan, For the same reason, the amir had promoted Mohammad 'Azim Khan, of the Se-Pai section of the Dai Kundi Hazaras, to the rank Of sardar and appointed him his head servant (Peshkhzdmat).^[7]

The Submission Of the Hazaras

In 1890; the amir appointed Sardar ^CAbd al-Quddus Khan, the governor of Shiberghan, as governor of Bamiyan the authority to pacify the still-independent Hazaras in the Hazarajat proper. Meanwhile, the amir invited the mirs of 45 clans (tawdif) of Uruzgan, Malistan, Dahla, Zawli, Dai Chopan, and other areas to submit to the govemment.⁴⁶In the proclamations (fmans) which he sent them the amir did not offer them terms for submission. He only asked them to submit, because he believed that their further insistence on rebellion, in Gew of the closeness of the Christian powers, would be injurious to Afghanistan. ^[8]However, the Hazaras claimed that they were invited to submit on terms that included autonomy, and exemption from paying taxes for several years to come.⁴⁸Whatever the truth may have been, the Hazaras agreed to submit. In the spring of 1891 , Sardar ^CAbd al-Quddus Khan, accompanied by an army and tribal levies of ten thousand men, including the Hazaras of Dai Zangi, Dai Kundi and Behsud entered the independent Hazarajat. Sardar Mohammad 'Azim Khan Hazara and Mir Mohammad Ilkhan had led the Hazara levies, and the entry' of the army was smooth except for sporadic light resistance.

1 30 CHAPI"F.R EIGHT

The Submission Of the Hazaras

In 1890; the amir appointed Sardar ^CAbd al-Quddus Khan, the governor of Shiberghan, as governor of Bamiyan the authority to pacify the still-independent Hazaras in the Hazarajat proper. Meanwhile, the amir invited the mirs of 45 clans (tawdif) of Uruzgan, Malistan, Dahla, Zawli, Dai Chopan, and other areas to submit to the govemment.⁴⁶In the proclamations (fmans) which he sent them the amir did not offer them terms for submission. He only asked them to submit, because he believed that their further insistence on rebellion, in Gew of the closeness of the Christian powers, would be injurious to Afghanistan. ^[10]However, the Hazaras claimed that they were invited to submit on terms that included autonomy, and exemption from paying taxes for several years to come.⁴⁸Whatever the truth may have been, the Hazaras agreed to submit. In the spring of 1891 , Sardar ^CAbd al-Quddus Khan, accompanied by an army and tribal levies of ten thousand men, including the Hazaras of Dai Zangi, Dai Kundi and Behsud entered the independent Hazarajat. Sardar Mohammad 'Azim Khan Hazara and Mir Mohammad Ilkhan had led the Hazara levies, and the entry' of the army was smooth except for sporadic light resistance.

132 CHAPTER EIGHT

opposed. but as the troops became oppressive, the Hazara commoncrs stood last behind their mirs and sayyeds.

In the ofhcial chronicle. Sirqj al-Tauurikh. there is no mention of whether thc Hazaras were made to pay taxes, but other sources indicatc that they undertook to pay one mpee per family The Hazaras wcrc also hard pressed for supplies. -'9 After having killcd a few soldiers. thc Palo subsection of the powerful Sultan Mohammad clan of thc Uruzgan Hazaras. under the Icadcrship of NIir Hussayn Beg, rebelled. Soon, other Hazaras joined them, killing and expelling the rest of the army scattered throughout the Hazarajat. Further, they declared a war and a jihad against the kingdom of Afghanistan. Sardar 'Abd al-Quddus Khan, •who had been stationed with his army of four thousand soldiers in Gizao fled to Qalat in the Ghilzay coun The Hazaras may have killed the rest, numbering, about six thousand soldiers and others.

The Mobilization of Public Opinion

The Hazara rebellion crystallized animosity between the Sunni and Shi ^ti population still further, and religious leaders on both sides incited their co-religionists. The ^Culema gave the amir the legal ruling (fatwa) to the effect that the Hazaras were '"infidel", rebel, and deserving of death.⁶¹They preached this theme in their sermons and incited the soldiers, whom they accompanied to the battlefields. At this time, Amir 'Abd al-Rahman called himself the "amir of Islam "62 He tried to turn the war into a sectarian war by stating that the Hazaras were "infidels" and that thc army and tribal levy were free to act as they pleased with regard to them and their property aqer they conquered their land.⁶³

The Hazara land was promised only to the Durranays and the

Ghilzays.⁶⁴The amir also declared that his object in conquering

al-waqayf, 249. RD, 22 Dec. 91, PSLI, 65, 103.

M'vl, Dec. 91, PSLI, 65, 103.
Riyazi, 'Ayn al-ll•'aqgpi', 250. Mir Hussayn Beg, Il Apr. 94, PSLI, 74, 548. Fay Mohammad, Sigi al-Tauurikh, 761.

^f" Fayz Mohammad, Sirgj al-Tgzuarikh, 891. KD, 22—24 June 92, PSLI, 1511. Riyazi, 'Ayn al-Jl•'aqa$, 253.

Fayz Mohammad, Sirq• al-Tawahkh, 543.
Abd al-Rahman's Firman, Kand D, 28 May 92, PSLI, 66, 1259. ⁶⁴Fayz Mohammad, al-Tawarikh, 781.

Uruzgan was to secure "an impregnable natural position" for the

Durranays as the infidels on both sides now exposed them to attacks.^ti% Despite all of this, hostility to the Hazaras was not universal. About twenty seven thousand *'Afghans" (of unknown tribal identity) living side by side with the Hazaras werc reported to haxe joined them against the amir. This population had been refractory for some time.

Near Kabul, the inhabitants Of Kohistan encouraged the rebel leaders in their stand against the amir. ⁱ'⁷Thc mir of Maymana, who had revolted at the time, promised his support to the Hazaras.%8 For their part the Hazaras also declared a religious war,⁶⁹and elected Timus Shah, a descendant Of Imam Musa Raza, as their ruler (khalifa).⁷0

In her, A Tale of the Hazam lVar, Lady Hamilton who lived in Kabul at the time notes that the Hazaras detested "the unholy alliance" that existed between the amir and the English. She quotes the Hazaras as having declared that "We will fight for one true God, and his true prophet, and for 'Ali against these Kafirs and the alies of Kafirs "71 This statement is true in the sense that the Hazaras cloaked the war in religion, but untrue with regard to the point that they wanted to fight the British also.

On the contrary, in Gew of their cooperation with the British during their invasion of Afghanistan, the Hazaras expected that they would help them against the amir,⁷²and so they asked them, although in vain, to assist them in their present struggle in return for their cooperation in future "in every way."73 Both sides resorted to religion for the justification of their bellicose stand. The amir and the 'ulema on one side, and the mirs, and the rnujtahids (Shi^Ci ^rulema) on the other, for reasons best known to them, invoked the names of God, the Prophet, 'Ali and Islam in inciting the Sunni and Shi^ti

⁶⁵MM, July 92, PSLI, 67, 275. KD, 21-24 May 92, PSLI, 66, 1103.

Riyazi, ^C.O•n al-Waqayff, 251.

Fayz Mohammad, Sirgj al-Tawarikh, 821.
, 781.
KD, 10 May 92, PSLI, 66, 606.
Hamilton, L, A Vi&'s Daughter, a Tale of the Hazam London, 1900, 31. Based on the experience of the author with the Hazara prisoners in Kabul, this is a historical novel. The author, who was sympathetic toward the prisoners, has Oamatized her account and so has made it unreliable as a source.

'2 Brown, Major J., to secretary to Government of India, Il Apr. 91, PSI-I, 74, 547.

MM, sept 92, PSLI, 68,

Uruzgan was to secure "an impregnable natural position" for the

⁶⁵MM, July 92, PSLI, 67, 275. KD, 21-24 May 92, PSLI, 66, 1103.

Riyazi, ^C.O•n al-Waqayff, 251.

Fayz Mohammad, Sirgj al-Tawarikh, 821.
, 781.
KD, 10 May 92, PSLI, 66, 606.
Hamilton, L, A Vi&'s Daughter, a Tale of the Hazam London, 1900, 31. Based on the experience of the author with the Hazara prisoners in Kabul, this is a historical novel. The author, who was sympathetic toward the prisoners, has Oamatized her account and so has made it unreliable as a source.

'2 Brown, Major J., to secretary to Government of India, Il Apr. 91, PSI-I, 74, 547.

MM, sept 92, PSLI, 68,

'Azim Khan, elder of the Se-pai Dai Kundi, who was until then the amir's head servant.

l*he amir poured about one hundred thousand troops and tribal levies into the Hazarajat from all sides.^b0He had never previously been able to employ so many soldiers and militias against an cncmy. The army •was led by Sipah Salar Ghulam Haydar Orakzay, Sardar 'Abd al-Quddus, General Sher Ahmad and others. Many battles preceded the decisive ones that were fought in Daya, Folad, and Uruzgan. In Uruzgan the battle continued for five days,^bland fifty skirmishes took place before it was reoccupied.^b2In the winter, the troops evacuated the Hazarajat just short Of Uruzgan. During the next spring, the Hazaras of the northem Hazarajat were the first to rise. However, after their initial successes in April 1893, they were defeated by the tribal levies, and the army led by Sipah Salar Ghulam Haydar Orakzay and General Amir Mohammad. It appears that General Amir Mohammad won the last decisive battle on the bank of the Helmand River between Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi. The Hazaras were finally crushed in September 1893. ⁸³

The Hazara Settlement

After the defeat of the Hazaras, the amir tried to break their power. As an ethnic group of the Shifi sect occupying the central highland, the Hazaras were a significant force, and the amir regarded them as a source of potential danger to the country.⁸¹He considered their mirs and religipus elders in particular. to be the enemies of both the Hazara commoners and the Afghans. These "enemies" he orored to be separated from the rest of the Hazaras and settled elsewhere,⁸⁵and commissioned Na'ib Padshah Gul to round up the elders and send them on to Kabul. However, since the government offials

Amir •Abd al-Rahman to Durranys Of Kandahar, Kand D, 2 July 92, PSI—I, 66, 1721. According to Riyazi, ('Arn al-Waqqyff, 258) the number of regular troops was 20,000, of tribal levies 60,000: and of guns 40. His figures of 10,000 for the Hazara fighting men are incredibly low.

Mir Hussayn Beg, Il Apr. 94, PSLI, 74, 548.
Amir 'Abd al-Rahman in darbar, KD, 21—23 Sept. 92, PSI—I, 68, 105. MM, sept. 93, PSI-I, 72, 257. Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawa,ü, 898.

Sultan Mahomed, I-Ue Qf.4bdur Rahman, l, 276.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir• al-Tau.urih, 957, 1100.

'Azim Khan, elder of the Se-pai Dai Kundi, who was until then the amir's head servant.

The Hazara Settlement

Mir Hussayn Beg, Il Apr. 94, PSLI, 74, 548.
Amir 'Abd al-Rahman in darbar, KD, 21—23 Sept. 92, PSI—I, 68, 105. MM, sept. 93, PSI-I, 72, 257. Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawa,ü, 898.

Sultan Mahomed, I-Ue Qf.4bdur Rahman, l, 276.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir• al-Tau.urih, 957, 1100.

suptheir the

and Ghilzays to settle in Uruzgan. He also announced that everyone Mishing to settle in the rest of thc Hazarajat would bc exempt from paying recenuc for the first year and allowed to pay it at a rate in the future. ¹⁰²At the same time, he also announced that money and seeds would be advanced on casy terms to Hazara culti\ators.

The govemment converted the pastures of the Hazarajat into state property and then sold them to the nomads (kuchays) who had helped it to transport supplies during the war. ^l(^ßUntil then the nomads had been unable to graze their cattle beyond Behsud, Nahur, and the Saydasta of the Jaghuri area; ¹⁰⁴with the blessing of government offlcials, they forced their way onto the pastures of Dai Zangi, Dai Kundi, Malistan, and other interior localities. ¹⁰⁵The lands of those who had fallen in the war and had left no inheritors were confiscated, as were the lands of the mirs of Dai Zangi and Dai Kundi. Since in the past, these mirs had taken over lands from the Hazara commoners, the latter now claimed their lands. The amir ruled that such lands were to be handed over to their original owners, and the mirs were to be left only with those lands, which they themselves cultivated. ¹⁰⁶

The Qizilbashes, who were followers of the same Shi'i faith as the Hazaras, sympathized with them, incited them by saying that the British were going to bring an end to the Emirate, and that now was the time to assert Hazara independence against the Amir's fledgling government."107 The government then accused the Qizilbashes

Of the 20,000 families Of Bchsud only 6,400 families in total and onlv 60 families Of the Sultan Mohammad Clan sunived the war. Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 854, 1031.

suptheir the

Of the 20,000 families Of Bchsud only 6,400 families in total and onlv 60 families Of the Sultan Mohammad Clan sunived the war. Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 854, 1031.

137

suptheir the

Of the 20,000 families Of Bchsud only 6,400 families in total and onlv 60 families Of the Sultan Mohammad Clan sunived the war. Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 854, 1031.

14+

but actually by a small group of greybeards, who at ordinary times rule in a morc or less absolute way."ll At any rate, Robertson focuses only on the common council (urn) which he calls "parliament" and which he attended. He states:

A Kafir parliament is a strange sight. . . . A dozen men, perhaps, try to speak at once: each has his little group of listeners. whose attention . he seeks to recall bv loud ejaculations of 'ai ai' or by litde pokes in the ribs with his walking club. If some very exciting topic is being discussed, perhaps all are talkers and none are listeners; but, as a rule, when one of the tribal orators begins to speak, he gets the attention of the greater part of the assembly. ¹2

Since the illiterate Kafirs could not record their decisions they often did not stick to them. Robertson notes:

. . . the discussion [decision] arrived at on one day is quite likely to be rescinded on the next, and reverted to on the third. But such occurrences are exceptional and only happen when people are laboring under strong excitement on some subject.

Further, Robertson states that "Generally the Jast, or its inner cruncil, manage every thing." He then refers to the political order of the Kafirs as "oligarchy, or, in some tribes, an autocracy. "l $ IVhile it is true that the Kafir political order was an oligarchy, it is also true to say that it was not an autocracy, smce membership in the council was only for one year, and the position of Jæst as head of the clan was not hereditary. NIorc importantly, in thc absencc of landed aristocracy as well as a cash economy to enable some one to retain militias even the powerful Jast were unable to rule autocratically, and had to rely on the good will of the tribesmen in conducting public affairs. Robertson orcn speaks of " . a public opinion which avenges any outrage on itself by promptly burning down the culprit's house and destroying his property." In his view public opinion is "a power not to be disregarded." ^N

Also, by the time a tribesman attained the status of Jast he had become financially worse off. This may explain why no one has evidently attempted to set up a monarchy. The reason for this is simple: the process of choosing the Jast was eraborate and very expensive.

Robertson, 234.

Robertson, 435

Robertson , 434, 435.

436

14+

Since the illiterate Kafirs could not record their decisions they often did not stick to them. Robertson notes:

Robertson, 234.

Robertson, 435

Robertson , 434, 435.

436

C.HAYIT.R

neither land nor cattle, maintaining themselves by laboring mainly as shepherds. The slaves (borjan) were divided into the Bari and the Shopcala, and were either artisans Or domestics. They were the propcrty Of families whose heads enjoycd wide power. The slaves were orignally prisoncrs of war, whom thc Kafirs had acquired in conflicts Mith their neighbors in past centuries. ^[11]Thc position of the artisan slavcs was much better because they owned property and the cornmunity needed their services as carpenters, tanners, weavers, goldsmiths, ironsmiths and the like. Slaves of both types were forbidden to shrines, and domestic slaves were even banned from going beyond certain limits in the house. Like the shudras or dasar of ancient India slaves were considered unclean. Of all the Kafir tribes the Kam and the Calsha had the highest number of slaves, and they were sold and bought in the town of Kamdesh.²⁰

The Kafirs had some other customs as well that distinguished them markedly from their neighbors, Their women, being unveiled and therefore able to move freely, tilled the land. However, since Kafiristan was a mountainous country it had narrow valleys and only limited stretches of cultivable land. Tauza claims that women tilled the land so that men have ample time to defend the country against the ever—present danger to which they were exposed from their Muslim neighbors.²¹Consequently, it was not uncommon for Kafir women to engage in sexual affairs both out of wedlock and extra-maritally. If discovered, the women were not severely punished and any resulting problems were settled by a council of elders, who ordered the male 'seducer' to give a few goats to the wronged husbands. Young unmarried women were especially indulgent, and their fathers accepted and raised their out of the wedlock children without grudges. It is even said that the Siyah-posh Kafirs were inclined to " resign their wives to those who reside under their roofs" out of hospitality to their guests. ^[12]

The Kafirs were polygamous to the extent that some of them married more than four wives. It was even considered a reproach to have only one wife—a sign of poverty and insignificance. ²³However

146 C.HAYIT.R

neither land nor cattle, maintaining themselves by laboring mainly as shepherds. The slaves (borjan) were divided into the Bari and the Shopcala, and were either artisans Or domestics. They were the propcrty Of families whose heads enjoycd wide power. The slaves were orignally prisoncrs of war, whom thc Kafirs had acquired in conflicts Mith their neighbors in past centuries. ^[13]Thc position of the artisan slavcs was much better because they owned property and the cornmunity needed their services as carpenters, tanners, weavers, goldsmiths, ironsmiths and the like. Slaves of both types were forbidden to shrines, and domestic slaves were even banned from going beyond certain limits in the house. Like the shudras or dasar of ancient India slaves were considered unclean. Of all the Kafir tribes the Kam and the Calsha had the highest number of slaves, and they were sold and bought in the town of Kamdesh.²⁰

The Kafirs were polygamous to the extent that some of them married more than four wives. It was even considered a reproach to have only one wife—a sign of poverty and insignificance. ²³However

their -Muslim neighbors, who buried their dead, the Kafirs neither buried nor burncd their dead, and placed the body of the dead in a box that was put on the summit of a nearby hill, a custom similar to that which prevailed in the Avestan period. Since the Kafirs were illiteratc they had no written records of their own. Also, because of their small-scale contact with the outside world thcv were not cxposcd to change, and held steadfast to their cultural values. Consequently, for centuries their society had bccn essentially retentive. The biggest change in their long history that affected them as well as their society in a fundamental way came with them convcrsion to Islam in 1896. On the eve of their conversion the author Robertson characterized the Kafirs in the f0110\4ing manner. "Their present ideas and all the associations of their history and their religion are simply assassinations and blackmailing; yet they are not savages. Some of them have the head of philosophers and statesmen. Their features are Aryan, and their mental capabilities are considerable. Their love of decoration, their carving, their architecture, all point to a time when they were higher in the human scale than they are at present.'"

The Kafirs had a hostile as well as symbiotic relationship with their Muslim neighbors. Although they suffered from disunity they would unite whenever the latter would threaten them, but would not conduct a combined operation, preferring instead to retaliate in small parties. On the Other hand, the Muslims would raid their territory to exact tribute, grab their land and capture their women, or to take revenge for their relatives whom the Kafirs had killed. The Muslim and Kafir communities in return would reward their respective successful raiders with the tide of ghazi (Muslim fighter against non-Muslims) for the Muslims, and of shoramauch for the Kafirs.

Nevertheless, thc Kafirs and their neighbors maintained a symbiotic relationship through trade in local commodities. Muslim peddlers carried on such trade in times of peace, even in the interior of Kafiristan. The Kafirs also maintained relationships with the Muslims individually as well as collectively. They had 'brothers' among some frontier Muslims, and both sides extended hospitality to each other when called upon. It was this symbiotic relationship and the introduction of currency that contributed to the spread of

Robertson,

165.

THE CONQUEST OF FORMER KAFIRISTAN 149

Islam in the fringes of Kafiöstan. Here, particularly in Bashgul, lived a large number of converts to Islam, known as shaykhs or neenchas. Although they had converted, their kinsmen accepted them uihout prejudice, because their blood ties were much stronger than religious ones. Thus, on the eve of the invasion, Islam had made considerable inroads among the Kafirs, who were said to number about 52,500 people in 1891.

The Historical Background Of the K4frs

As previously noted, the Kafirs were an indigenous people. According to Ghobar they were the descendents of the people of Bakhtar who left their land (Bakhtar or Bactria) after the overthrow of the GrecoBactrian rule by the people of Takhar. They settled in regions outh of the Hindu-kush, which they called Biloristan after their former land Bakhtar. In their new habitat, where they partly mixed with the indigenous people, but largely kept to themselves, they naintained their former predominantly Zoroastrian ways of life," as previously described.

In the Islamic period, when Islam was being introduced in what is now eastern Afghanistan, the Kafirs were pressured to accept Islam, and those who refused proceeded further up the highland, from Laghman, Konarr, Bajaur and other valleys. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna may have been the first Muslim ruler to have pressured them to embrace Islam, in the beginning of the eleventh century. Although he invaded India seventeen times, he did not conquer the highland of the Kafirs. The example he set was followed by Timur Lane (1335—1405) and by the Muslim princes of Turkestan, in the fifteenth century. ³⁴In the early part of the sixteenth century, Mohammad Zahir al-Din Babur (1483—1530), the founder of the Mughal dynasty of India, had a small encounter with the Kafirs in the Konarr valley. During the reigns of his successors, notably Jalal al-Din Akbar (1556—1605) and Jahangir (1 605—1627), the Kafirs of

GAK, 250.
Ghobar, The Geogr#hical History gfUghanütan, 135—139.
McNair, W. W., Exploration in Eastcrn Afghanistan, Kafiristan, 1883, 38, PSLI, 44, 1208. Mason, Narraüe ef Vahow Journo's, l, 198—201.

Tagao, Nijrao, Pech, Konarr and Laghman were converted to Islam.

In the first half of the eighteenth century, Nadir Shah Afshar d. 1747) left the Kafirs unmolested, as did the Sadozay rulers afterward. However, later in 1874, Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan tried to conquer Kafiristan, although the details of his attempt are unknown.

Amir •Abd al-Rahman Khan did not take a military' expedition against them until 1895, since he was not ready to confront them. Nor did the Kafirs present a problem. After Russia occupied Panjdeh in 1885, the amir feared that the Russians viewed the Kafirs as . their auxiliary force. "36 A year later he also feared that " . the British Government intended to annex Kafiristan. "37 This was after the British Government requested him that he permit a British party under Colonel Lockhart to enter Kafiristan for collecting geological data. ³⁸The amir turned down the request, but was still unable to bring the Kafirs within the orbit of Kabul, due to more pressing problems elsewhere. Instead, he lent his blessing to the jihad movement that Mulla Khalil Mohmand and others were waging against the Kafirs at the same time that he also adopted a paternal attitude toward those deputations of Kafir elders who were turning to him in Kabul, for protection. Pressured by overzealous Muslims on the fringes of their land, groups of Kafir elders frequently visited the amir and received good treatment, as well as presents of robes and

^COmara nan and the Kgfrs

In the late 1880s ^COmara Khan (Umra Khan), the famous khan of Jandol, revived the centuries-old custom of jihad against the Kafirs. In 1891, he occupied the Kafir village of Nasrat on the left bank of the Konarr River even though his local rivals and the mehtar (ruler) of Chitral had made a coalition against him, which prevented him from undertaking a large-scale invasion. However, his second attempt

³⁵Rahim, M., Sifat Nama-e-l)arwesh Mohammad Khan Ghazi (Persian) (in Praise of Daruesh Mohammad Khan Khan Ghazi], 1288 H. Q., Islamabad, Laghman, Introduction and Annotation by Scarcia, G., Rome, 1965, 74.

Amir 'Abd al-Rahman to Afzal, KD, 17, Mar. 85, PSLI, 44, 740.

MM, Apr. 86, PSI-I, 63, 496.

Durand to Amir •Abd al-Rahman, 22 Jan. 86, PSI—I, 47, 1027.

THE CONQUEST OF FORMER K.AFIRISTAN 151

at invading the Kafir's territory, after he had defeated his rivals, was anticipated by the Kafirs, ^S9and they invaded his territory instead. They did so with the encouragement they received from Sipah Salar Ghulam Haydar Khan Charkhay, who had arrived at the lime at Asmar with a large numbcr of troops. Further, as a result of thc Durand Agreement of 1893, when Kafiristan was officially recognizcd by India as a part of Afghanistan, the sipah salar warned 'Omara Khan to leave the Kafirs alone." However, ^tOmara Khan was still undeterred, stating that Kafiristan his claim was '"supenor"" to that of the amir's and of the Mehtar of Chitral. He gave up his planned invasion only after the Government of India prevented him from carrying it out.⁴²

The Mehtar of Chitral and the

Previously Kafiristan, Chitral and Gilgit formed one land," and the Mehtar of Chitral, entitled Shah Kator," was viewed as the suzerain of the Kafirs, for which they paid him tribute.⁴⁵Although, during the period under discussion, the mehtar was unable to administer their affairs, the Kafirs, especially those of the nearby Bashgul valley, still sought his protection when pressured by other Muslims. After they found out that he could no longer protect them from the threats of •Omara Khan, they turned to the amir for protection'⁶When the Govemment of India, the suzerain of the mehtar, accepted the amir's claim that the whole of Kafiristan was a part of Afghanistan" the centuries-old r.elationship between the former and Chitral came to an end.

" PD, 23 Nov. 92, PSLI, 68, 703.

PD, 8 Jan. 94, PSLI, 7, 208.

'Omara Khan to Mehter, PD, 8 Jan. 94, PSI-I, 73, 208

Secretary to government of India to •Omara Khan, 30 Mar. 94 i), S May,

PSI-I, 74, 711.

Ghobar, Ughaniftan Dar Masir-e-Tarikh, 671.

-H Elliot, "Hindu Kings of Kabul", GAK, Appendix B., cxxlv.

⁴⁵Fayz Mohammad, al-Taunhkh, 1129.

-6 Kain elders to Ghulam Haydar Khan, PD, 8 Jan. 94, PSI-I, 74, 128. Elgin to Hamilton, 22 Apr. 96, F.L No. 77 (1896), PSLI, 85, 20.

The Negotiations

The concentration of troops at Asmar, as described in Chapter Four, alarmed the Kafirs. The amir instructed the sipah salar to allay their fear by negotiating with them. However, the purpose was not a settlement through negotiation, but to dissuade the Kafirs from fleeing to Chitral, as, rcportcdly, thcy would do. if military expeditions were taken against them before the winter set in. The sipah salar was most suited for conducting the negotiation. As a Yusufzay Pashtun, well versed in the art of negotiations and settlements and enjoying wide authority as the amir's viceroy in the eastern province, the sipah salar also preferred negotiation to the employment of force. Since one political center did not exist among the Kafirs, he began negotiating Mith the tribes separately. Extensive negotiations were held with the Kam Kafirs of the Bashgul valley bordering Chitral. However, these were no more than a delaying tactic.

The sipah salar and his troops moved to Barikot (Birkot), closer to the Kam Kafirs of the Bashgul valley, and proposed that they accept Islam and the amir's rule." While, they were willing to submit to the amir, they were unwilling to accept Islam. They were also unvvilling to accept the construction of a road through their valley to Badakhshan, which the sipah salar had planned to build. Subsequently, they agreed to the construction of the road, provided they were left free to practice their religion. The sipah salar went along with their request, but when work was begun on the road, the Kafirs changed their minds, proposing instead to accept Islam, not the road. For the sipah salar, the construction of the road and their submission were of greater urgency than the Kafirs' immediate conversion, because without the road the invasion would be difficult.

For precisely the same reason, ultimately the Kafirs of the whole valley made it clear that they wanted to become Zimmis (non-Muslim subjects), but would accept neither Islam nor the road. ⁴9 Evidently, the Kafirs, who had lived in freedom since their arrival in their territory: resented losing their freedom, and so wanted to retain it by becoming zimmis. The sipah salar gave way, knowing that if he refused to accept their proposal they would resist and then escape to Chitral.⁵⁰

⁴⁸Fayz Mohammad, al-Tawari", 1124, 1125, 1 129, 1130.

0 Ibid.

^soSayyed Shah of Daryu of Luthkoh to British agent, Gilgit Diary, 2 Nov. 95, EL, 4493 PSLI, 83.

The Negotiations

⁴⁸Fayz Mohammad, al-Tawari", 1124, 1125, 1 129, 1130.

0 Ibid.

^soSayyed Shah of Daryu of Luthkoh to British agent, Gilgit Diary, 2 Nov. 95, EL, 4493 PSLI, 83.

The spah salar overran the Bashgul valley and returned to Asmar in early January 1986, after having left a garrison there: rcsistancc was light and a number of Kafirs fled to Chitral. ⁵²Next, along with troops from Munjan, he pacified the long valley of Pech and all of its side vales. Thc Ramgul and Kulum Kafirs, who lived in the interior or Kafiristan and stood fast by their religion. proved difficult to overcome. This finally occurred in the winter of 1896. after both sides incurred hea',y casualties. With the fall of Kulum the conqucst was complete.

The Settlement and Conversion

Following the invasion the conversion to Islam of the Kafirs began. Armed Sunni mullas of the Hanafi system of laws guarded by armed khassadars (militia) were commissioned to convert the Kafirs. Further, mosques were built in all of the villages and hamlets, where the Kafirs were taught in the fundamentals of Islam. Many wooden effigies and statuettes depicting Kafir deities, and presumably also their ancestors, were collected and sent on to Jalalabad and Kabul, where they disappeared. Thus, the Kafir art which was the work of client artisans, and exemplified the religious beliefs of the Kafirs vanished. Except for a few ugly incidents here and there the mass conversion went on smoothly, and the Kafirs gradually became staunch Muslirns. This was particularly true of young Kafirs, although the elderly felt sorrow over the loss of their traditional religion.

By the amir's order, no one was to pillage Kafir property or to enslave a Kafir. The Kafir slaves were declared to be free as the amir had already abolished slavery in Afghanistan. If anyone did so, he was to pay a fine of seven thousand rupees—an exorbitant sum. Qgzis and hakims (subgovernors) were appointed to manage the land

ing the fact that the amir's betrothal of the Kafir slave-girls was in line with the custom that allowed dowry and bride-price.

Additionally, according to Dr. Jones (p. 3) following the British invasion of Afghanistan Amir Sher ^cAli Khan accompanied the Russian mission to Russia where "Sher 'Ali was something Of an embarrassment and he was advised to return." The plain fact is that Russia's governor-general von Kaufmann did not allow the amir to enter even Central Asia, and that this refusal became partly responGble for the estrangement in Russo-Afghan relations until 1917 when the Bolsheviks came to

CD, 29 Dec 96, F.L, 78-F., PSI], 90.

154

The Settlement and Conversion

ing the fact that the amir's betrothal of the Kafir slave-girls was in line with the custom that allowed dowry and bride-price.

CD, 29 Dec 96, F.L, 78-F., PSI], 90.

Inlemal and Extemal Significance

The conquest produced strong repercussions in Afghanistan, as well as in India, Great Britain, and Russia. While in Afghanistan the people lauded the amir, in the other three countries, the press and some Christian societies expressed concern and sought to bring pressure upon their respective governments to prevent thc amir from annexing Kafiristan, and failing that to save the Kafirs from what was referred to as "extermination." However, thc protestations failed to arouse their govemments to action.

In an age Of European domination, devout Christians found it hard to tolerate the conquest of the 'Land of the Infidel' by a Muslim ruler, and consequently, they demanded counteraction from their own governments. The intellectual ground for this had already been laid by Christian missionaries in India to the effect that because the Kafirs of Kafiristan . are almost without a religion . . . such people are open to receive the Gospel."57 This view had originated with a Jesuit priest, Benedict Goes. Upon hearing that the Siyah-posh Kafirs were not Muslims, and that they drank wine, he had "inferred that they were Christians." •Goes had made this assertion in 1603, when crossing the Hindu Kush by the Parwan Pass to Andarab.³⁸

Until George Robertson traveled into Kafiristan in 1890— 1891 no European had penetrated it, and Robertson had found no evidence to suggest that the Kafirs were Christians or were even their sympathizers. Nevertheless, after the conquest, some Christian societies in Britain raised their voices against it, charging that it was intended to result in the "enslavement" and "extermination" of the Kafirs. Sympathizing with the Kafirs on the basis that they had always "relied on British protection", and that they were "the brethren of the Europeans", these societies asked the British Government to rescue them from "the present danger. "59 Others viewed the conquest as an 'irredeemable loss to our [British] predicting that "England in India will be the first to suffer by it.''61

Downes, E., KMrifian, London, 1873, 15.

Mason, .Namative Ujournos, l, 205.

Aborigines Protection Society to Secretary of state for India, 22 Jan. 96, 5. The .Anti-Slavery Society in Lnndon also made similar assertions and requests. For details see, Memoranda-parliamentary Questions, Chitral, Afghanistan, etc., 1896.

A Missionary, "The Amir's Paean, the Mittai Valley and the Kafirs", The Asiadc Quarterly Review, 2, 1896, 186. ⁶¹Chamberlain, N., "Russia's Countermeasures to the Kafir Encroachment," The Asiatic Quarterly Review, 2, 1896, 186.

156

Inlemal and Extemal Significance

Downes, E., KMrifian, London, 1873, 15.

Mason, .Namative Ujournos, l, 205.

had not expressed a desire to become Christians, and the claim in certain missionary circles that during the previous forty years they had invited them several times bring Christianity into their secluded homes"71' was simply untrue. Contrary to this assertion, in 1886 the Kafirs themsches had blockcd thc cntrv into Kafiristan of a British mission led by Colonel Lockhart. The stated puQose of the mission was to examine the passes of thc Hindu Kush for "a scientific" surccy, but it was, in fact, political. From George Robertson's travel accounts of Kafiristan it is clear that the Kafirs had no love for their so-called European 'Kafir brethren.' They even suspcctcd Robertson Of being a spy and his journey, in his own words, mere prehminary to an attempt to annex their country." ⁷¹In the second place, in comparison to his rebellious subjects, the amir treated the Kafirs mildly. He realized that since they were fewer in number they could never become a threat. It was because of all these considerations that the British Government thought it inadvisable even to address the amir on the subject, although certain members of the House of Commons (where the subject was discussed) asked it to do so. ⁷²In a similar fashion, the offcial Turkestan Gazette, wrote, "We, Russians can only, against our wish, remain deeply sad spectators of the tragedy enacted in Kafiristan which is one of the darkest blots on European dommation in Asia. "73

From all this one good result emerged for the K afir refugees when the British Government of India declared that they would be given asylum with small grants of land in Chitral. ⁷⁴The Kafir refugees were then settled in the upper Bumber-et and Gobar. They were also allowed to retain their beliefs. They gradually became Muslims, who are now known as Bashgulay shaykhs.

Leitner, AV., "Kafiristan and the Khalifa Question", The Asiatic Review, 1896, l, 288.

Robertson to Cunningham, 14 Jan. 90, PSLI, 59, 1006.

⁷²Memoranda-Parliamentary Questions, 1896, 6.

Quoted in 77ze Asiatic @arter5' Review', 1896, l, 294.

Memoranda-Parliamentary Questions, 1896, 4.

⁷⁵Shah, Wazir A., "Invasions Preceding the Conquest of Nuristan,^øin Cultures of me Hindu rush, ed. by Jettrnar, K. , Wiesbaden, 1974, 25.

TEN'

RELATIONS WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

OF INDIA AND THE DURAND AGREEMENI'

Great Britain was the first European country with which Afghanistan came into contact, but relations between them were often hostile. Britain twice invaded Afghanistan, first in 1838 and then in 1878, but failed to make it a colony. However, it did succeed in controlling Afghanistan's external relations after the second invasion, and it also helped define and delimit the country's international boundaries. Thus, Anglo-Afghan relations are the most important aspect of Afghanistan's external relations during the period under consideration.

Before 1880

The first offcial contact between Afghanistan and Britain was made in 1809, when a British mission {ed by Mountstuart Elphinstone, an envoy of the East India Company, concluded a treaty with the Afghan ruler, Shah Shuja) Sadozay, in Peshawar, his winter seat. By the terms of the treaty concluded on June 1 7, 1809, the Afghans agreed to prevent the French from entering Afghanistan as the Sindians and the Persians had agreed to prevent them from entering their countries. Both parties to the treaty agreed to refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of each other's country. ^l

The treaty had been prompted by the fear of a joint FrancoPersian invasion of India through Afghanistan. In it the Afghan king agreed that he would "prevent their passage, and, . . . not permit them to cross into British India. "2 However, the fear proved unreal, and Shah Shuja^cwas soon overthrown. Consequently, the treaty lost its purpose, even though it had declared friendship between the two states "to continue for ever", and Anglo-Afghan relations remained in limbo for the next twenty years. However, the treaty caused the

Norris, J. A, The First 4fghan War, 1839—1842, Cambridge, 1967, 14. 2 Kaye, J. W., History of War, Inndon, 1851, l, 150.

I GO CHAPI*F.R TF„N

production of a permanent value. Elphinstonc, who was more of a scholar than a civil servant. managed to collect range information on Afghanistan on the basis of which he, in cooperation with his colleagues, composed the most comprcliensive b0i)k ivhich has cvcr been written in any languagc on the state and society of the Durranay Empire entitled. An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul.

In the Russo-phobia struck British India once again. By then, as a result of the treaty of 1828 of "I'orkmanchai, Russian influence had replaced British influence at the court of Tehran, in Persia. Afghanistan had been fragmented into the principalities of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Peshawar. 'l'his led the British governrnent to conclude that the pro-Russian king of Persia, Fath 'Ali Shah, intended to dominate Kandahar and Herat, and influence Afghanistan' Britain considered such an eventuality detrimental to her interests in India, and to forestall the perceived danger, it charged Governor-general Auckland to counteract the progress of Russian influencc in Afghanistan. For this purpose Lord Auckland sent a mission under Alexander Burnes to the court of Kabul, but it failed in its purpose.

Although by then "Russia declared to abstain from entering into any political relationships with Afghan chiefs and not to take part in their civil wars or in their family feuds"4 Lord Auckland still decided to intcrcene. Apparently, Auckland saw it necessary to forcstall a perceived Russian intervention in Afghanistan in order to make way for the actual British military intervention there. In preparation for this intervention, he along with Rangit Singh, the Sikh ruler of the Panjab and the former Afghan king, Shah Shuja', then a iUgitive in India, concluded a treaty.å For its purpose it had the placing On the throne or Kabul a ruler who would be subject to the British. The tool of its accomplishment became Shah Shuja'—a rejected claimant to the throne who soon became unpopular with the Afghans during his brief period of British-dominated reign.⁶

Britain failed in its purposc by losing more than 16,500 soldiers and

Indian servants in its war with Afghanistan, and Dost Mohammad

Habberton, IV., Anglo-Russian Relatious Concerning Ughanistan, 1833—1907, Illinois StL1dies in Social Sciences, Vol., XXI, 1933, 10.

Singhal, India and Ughanistan, 4. ⁵Habberton, Anglo-Russian Relations, 19. ⁶Ibid., 20.

I GO CHAPI*F.R TF„N

Britain failed in its purposc by losing more than 16,500 soldiers and

Indian servants in its war with Afghanistan, and Dost Mohammad

Habberton, IV., Anglo-Russian Relatious Concerning Ughanistan, 1833—1907, Illinois StL1dies in Social Sciences, Vol., XXI, 1933, 10.

Singhal, India and Ughanistan, 4. ⁵Habberton, Anglo-Russian Relations, 19. ⁶Ibid., 20.

invaded it several times before. This was to be Persia's last invasion of Herat. At the same time, Calcutta and Kabul were to exchange diplomatic representatives, known as wakil, although the former refrained from concluding "a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance" with Afghans. ¹³On the whole, the treaties improved relations between the two countries so long as the amir was alive.

From the death of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, in 1863, and the accession of Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan the British policy toward Afghanistan falls into three phases: the so-called "neutrality", from 1864—to 1868; reconciliation without commitment, from 1868 to 1876; and active intervention, once again, afterward.

Amir Sher ^cAli Khan expected Britain to follow the same policy toqard him that it had followed toward his father. However, during the Afghan civil war, Britain followed a policy of partiality in the name of neutrality in the hope that his rival, pro-British brother, Sardar Mohammad A^Czam Khan, would establish" . . . a strong government in Afghanistan friendly to the British power."14 Nevertheless, Amir Sher ^cAli Khan still preferred British friendship to that of Russia's, as he was concerned about the integrity of his kingdom, and its independence from the feared Russian encroachment. He

Ibid., 256.

¹²Ibid., 259. Amir Dost Mohammad Khan's reluctance to restore Peshawar in 1957 was crucial as in 1848 when the Sikhs rose up against the British and in their cxtrcmity appealed to Amir Dost Mohammad Khan to help them in return for the cession of Peshawar." (Harnid-ud Din, "Dost Mohammad and the Second Sikh War", Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, Vol. I l, pt. IV, Oct. 1954, 280). But Amir Dost Mohammad Khan helped the Sikhs only with a token force under his son Sardar Mohammad Akram Khan, even though he regarded Peshawar as "the burial place of my forefathers, and my hereditary country." (Ibid., 281) He

Ibid., 256.

165

ter memory of the war vsith the "infidel Farangi" was still too fresh in the minds of Afghans to tolerate a British presence in the country. Consequently, Viceroy Northbrook did not make the request, stating that "all those best qualified to form an opinion" believed that the amir would refuse the request. ²²He also stated that the fear of Russian design upon India was based. upon chimera.

Concluding that "SalisbuD,• was bent on war"23 the viceroy left India in April 1876. However, the first step for the Second AngloAfghan war had been takqn in the same year after the British Prime Mini5ter Benjamin Disraeli (later Earl Beaconsfield) adopted a new policy, known as the "Forward Policy", which meant intervention and occupation. It consisted of securing by Britain key frontier points close to Afghanistan, and turning Afghanistan into a protectorate state.

The implementation of the Forward Policy began after Lord Edward Robert L. B. Lytton replaced Lord Northbrook as viceroy and governor-general in the spring of 1876. Lytton "arrived in India armed with an entirely fresh set of instructions to guide the government of India's attitude to the Central Asian problem." In particular [h]e came to India with specific instructions to deal with Afghanistan in accordance with the aims of the Forward Policy."24 He not only had the full support of Salisbury; Beaconsfield too assured him that "[m]y confidence in you is complete."

With regard to the administration of the North-west Frontier, Salisbury even told him that "whatever you decide on, I shall uphold. "25 This point will be explained soon. Lytton was willing to conclude a defensive and offensive alliance with Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan and also to recognize his heir apparent. In return, he demanded that the amir forgo the external independence of his country, and accept the stationing of British offcers along its frontiers. For obvious reasons, the amir did not accept the proposal.% The Peshawar conference that was held in March 1877 between Lytton and the amir's representatives on the subject failed. A mission from the Ottoman Sultan to the amir in September 1877, which attempted

n Ibid., 146.

Ibid, 147.

Trousdale, In&odution in War .%anisun, 49.

Roberts, .%åsbur, 215.

²⁶Singbal, India an Afghanüøn, 25—26.

165

n Ibid., 146.

Ibid, 147.

Trousdale, In&odution in War .%anisun, 49.

Roberts, .%åsbur, 215.

²⁶Singbal, India an Afghanüøn, 25—26.

"Part Italian, part French, part Irish and all British" Cavagnari had actually dictated the treaty to the amir in Gandumak. In Kabul, Cavaganari behaved as if he had been appointed ruler of Afghanistan. He was mistaken. On September 3, 1879, the people and the army of Kabul massacred all the inmates of the embassy which consisted of Cavagnari, W. Jenkyns, A. H. Kelly, W. R. P. Hamilton, and seventy five members of the cavalry and infantry.ⁿSoon afterward, in response to the massacre, the British invaded Afghanistan once again. During this second phase of the war, Lytton embarked on a policy with the purpose of disrnembering Afghanistan in accord vith the requirements of the Forward Policy. Ultimately, this policy, as described in Chapter Two, also failed and Afghanistan emerged reunited under the leadership Of Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan.

Re@n of Amir al-Rahman

During the Zimma meeting (July 31—August l, 1880) Sir I-apel Griffn, the British Political Offcer at Kabul, secretly handed over the following letter to Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan:

His Excellgncy the Viceroy and Governor-General in Council has lear nt with pleasure that your Highness has proceeded toward Cabd, in accordance with the invitation of the British Government. nereforc in consideration of the friendly sentiments by which your Highness is animated, and of the advantage to be derived by the Sirdars and

Ibid., 49. That Cavagnari Gewed the Gandumak treaty with contempt is clear from the note of Frederic Villiers, the Graphic's special artist, who was present on

"Part Italian, part French, part Irish and all British" Cavagnari had actually dictated the treaty to the amir in Gandumak. In Kabul, Cavaganari behaved as if he had been appointed ruler of Afghanistan. He was mistaken. On September 3, 1879, the people and the army of Kabul massacred all the inmates of the embassy which consisted of Cavagnari, W. Jenkyns, A. H. Kelly, W. R. P. Hamilton, and seventy five members of the cavalry and infantry.ⁿSoon afterward, in response to the massacre, the British invaded Afghanistan once again. During this second phase of the war, Lytton embarked on a policy with the purpose of disrnembering Afghanistan in accord vith the requirements of the Forward Policy. Ultimately, this policy, as described in Chapter Two, also failed and Afghanistan emerged reunited under the leadership Of Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan.

Re@n of Amir al-Rahman

During the Zimma meeting (July 31—August l, 1880) Sir I-apel Griffn, the British Political Offcer at Kabul, secretly handed over the following letter to Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan:

Ibid., 49. That Cavagnari Gewed the Gandumak treaty with contempt is clear from the note of Frederic Villiers, the Graphic's special artist, who was present on

"Part Italian, part French, part Irish and all British" Cavagnari had actually dictated the treaty to the amir in Gandumak. In Kabul, Cavaganari behaved as if he had been appointed ruler of Afghanistan. He was mistaken. On September 3, 1879, the people and the army of Kabul massacred all the inmates of the embassy which consisted of Cavagnari, W. Jenkyns, A. H. Kelly, W. R. P. Hamilton, and seventy five members of the cavalry and infantry.ⁿSoon afterward, in response to the massacre, the British invaded Afghanistan once again. During this second phase of the war, Lytton embarked on a policy with the purpose of disrnembering Afghanistan in accord vith the requirements of the Forward Policy. Ultimately, this policy, as described in Chapter Two, also failed and Afghanistan emerged reunited under the leadership Of Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan.

Re@n of Amir al-Rahman

During the Zimma meeting (July 31—August l, 1880) Sir I-apel Griffn, the British Political Offcer at Kabul, secretly handed over the following letter to Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan:

Ibid., 49. That Cavagnari Gewed the Gandumak treaty with contempt is clear from the note of Frederic Villiers, the Graphic's special artist, who was present on

"Part Italian, part French, part Irish and all British" Cavagnari had actually dictated the treaty to the amir in Gandumak. In Kabul, Cavaganari behaved as if he had been appointed ruler of Afghanistan. He was mistaken. On September 3, 1879, the people and the army of Kabul massacred all the inmates of the embassy which consisted of Cavagnari, W. Jenkyns, A. H. Kelly, W. R. P. Hamilton, and seventy five members of the cavalry and infantry.ⁿSoon afterward, in response to the massacre, the British invaded Afghanistan once again. During this second phase of the war, Lytton embarked on a policy with the purpose of disrnembering Afghanistan in accord vith the requirements of the Forward Policy. Ultimately, this policy, as described in Chapter Two, also failed and Afghanistan emerged reunited under the leadership Of Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan.

Re@n of Amir al-Rahman

During the Zimma meeting (July 31—August l, 1880) Sir I-apel Griffn, the British Political Offcer at Kabul, secretly handed over the following letter to Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan:

Ibid., 49. That Cavagnari Gewed the Gandumak treaty with contempt is clear from the note of Frederic Villiers, the Graphic's special artist, who was present on

wrrH G

In July 1883, the viceroy, Lord Ripon, fixed the amir an annual grant of I rupees, stating that

The internal disorders of Afghanistan were so largely due to our invasion of that country that we felt it to be our duty to aid him [the amir] in the establishment Of a regular government."

The British government of India also granted weapons to Kabul in critical time. By the "establishment of a regular government" Ripon meant the organization of a strong am•ry, because the internal resources of Afghanistan for that purpose were insumcient. The grant indicated the significance which the British attached to Afghanistan. However, it was bound to injure the amir's public image, as it made him look like a British vassal. As a countermeasure, the amir announced that

. this grant of theirs is not a favor or an obligation, but the security and safety Of India is in view. The English do not give a single cowry to any without motive. In the second place, I am the shield of their country, and on account of me, they are secure from the Russian attack. If my government remains stable, I go on in this way, taking rifles and money from the English; and having made my foundation firm, I shall be able to fight the Russians and the English."

In his private darbars [courts] the amir used to say that the grants he received were a poll tax (java)." The statement was not entirely rhetoric. Although the amir could not fight the British or the Russians, he did not allow them to influence him in running the country. This was clear, among other things, from his negative responses to the British requests. But in this he went so far as to block the introduction of modern technology by rejecting the proposal of the viceroy that the British be allowed to construct a telegraph line connecting Kabul with Peshawar" or a railway line linking Kandahar with Herat.⁴⁸He even discontinued the work of a British specialist in a copper minc in a location near Kabul. He did all of this to deprive the British of a chance to meddle in the internal affairs of Afghanitan, This meant that the amir preferred isolationism and medieval autocracy to renewal and modernization.

Ripon to Secretary Of State for India, 13 July 83, 37, 121.

Amir •Abd al-Rahman in darbar, KD, 5 Apr. 87, PSLI, 50, 268. KD, 214-16 Feb. 94, PSLI, 73, 1029.

4' The Amir's Visit to India, 1885, psu, 44, Encl. No. 3, 7. Ibid., 15.

wrrH G

In July 1883, the viceroy, Lord Ripon, fixed the amir an annual grant of I rupees, stating that

The internal disorders of Afghanistan were so largely due to our invasion of that country that we felt it to be our duty to aid him [the amir] in the establishment Of a regular government."

Ripon to Secretary Of State for India, 13 July 83, 37, 121.

Amir •Abd al-Rahman in darbar, KD, 5 Apr. 87, PSLI, 50, 268. KD, 214-16 Feb. 94, PSLI, 73, 1029.

4' The Amir's Visit to India, 1885, psu, 44, Encl. No. 3, 7. Ibid., 15.

WITH

. ready with my army and my people to render any service, which may be required Of me or Of the Afghan nation. As the British Government have declared that it will assist me in repelling any foreign enemy, so it is right and proper that Afghanistan should unite in the firmest manner and stand side by side with the British Govcmncnt. '3

TO reciprocate the British commitment to Afghanistan, the amir added should disturbances arise in your empire of India , the people Of Afghanistan can give you friendly help by protecting the frontiers of However, this honeymoon period did not last long.

In the late 1880s, certain events stained Anglo-Afghan relations. The Government of India did not invite Kabul to participate in the Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission which was set up to delimit Afghanistan's north-western boundary, even though the issue was bound to affect the country's integrity. This angered the amir, and in retaliation he did not allow the British commission to travel to the areas through Afghanistan. The commission, under Colonel Ridgeway, then had to travel through a barren and inhospitable route along the Persian-Afghan border, mainly in Seistan. For this and his diatribes the viceroy accused the amir of using "unfriendly language and unfriendly acts.

Later, in 1889, the amir resented what he considered interference in his administration by the viceroy, Lord Lansdowne, who had sent a letter asserting that his punishment of the people of Turkestan, following the suppression of the revolt of Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan, was "abhorrent to civilization. "58 As the viceroy, Lord Elgin, later stated the amir had resented Lansdowne's interference in his internal affairs very much, and he had never forgiven him fcr sending him that letter. Consequently, this personal resentment had affected political relations disadvantageously." The amir also resented the presence of Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, with over eight hundred of his followers in India, believing that that through him the Government of India intended to pressurc him.⁶⁰However, what actually restrained Anglo-Afghan relations was the British "Forward

55 Ibid, 9.

s6 Mohammad Nabi, .%üMl uu jauub, I I.

Singhal, and Ughanistan, 129.

Lansdowne to Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, 27 Feb. 89, PSLI, 56, 721.
Singhal, Indü and Afghanistan, 135. PD, 8 Jan. 92, PSI-I, 65, 171.

WITH

55 Ibid, 9.

s6 Mohammad Nabi, .%üMl uu jauub, I I.

Singhal, and Ughanistan, 129.

Lansdowne to Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, 27 Feb. 89, PSLI, 56, 721.
Singhal, Indü and Afghanistan, 135. PD, 8 Jan. 92, PSI-I, 65, 171.

had helped him to the throne and had afterward strengthened him with money and weapons, was out of the question. This was particularly so, when the viceroy, Lord Duffer-in, had assured him that the British government wanted

. . . to maintain a powerful, independent and united Afghanistan under a ruler capable of enforcing peace and order vshthin his own territories, Of conciliating the good-v.ril_l and confidence Of his people, and of shgwing a formidable front to an invading foe. ⁷⁰

Nevertheless, mutual trust was Often lacking, and the type of relationship that developed between the amir and the British government was only the result of mutual necessity.

The amir fully realized that the British could make trouble for him, and even unseat him, as they had unseated Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan and Amir Mohammad Ya'qub Khan-⁷¹Even without undertaking military action, themselves, the British could do so through the former Amir Mohammad Ya'qub Khan, Sardar Mohammad Ayyub Khan, and hundreds of other Mohammadzay sardars and Ghilzay elders most of whom lived on British pensions in India and had followers in Afghanistan. Additionally, just around the corner was the standing menace of a Russian invasion. All of these points restrained the amir from forcing any issue at any time with the British government, and-they even prompted him to cooperate. As the viceroy, Lord Curzon, noted on the broader issues of foreign relations the amir always acted within the framework of the British imperial policy.

Nevertheless, toward the end of his reign, when he had consolidated his position, the amir acted as an independent ruler. For the sake of appeasing the Afghans⁷²and "[f]irmly impressed with belief in

⁷⁰

Nevertheless, mutual trust was Often lacking, and the type of relationship that developed between the amir and the British government was only the result of mutual necessity.

⁷⁰

175

Nevertheless, mutual trust was Often lacking, and the type of relationship that developed between the amir and the British government was only the result of mutual necessity.

⁷⁰

ordered from Europe by the Amir. •'W' Viceroy Lansdowne even proposed to the amir to receive Lord Roberts on a mission in Kabul with a powerful military escort, a proposal to which the amir reacted thus: "l considered the position very critical, to receive 10,000 soldiers, whom I was expected to receive as my guests. I had, therefore, to prepare 100,000 to receive them. "90 Finally, the viceroy directly warned the amir ". . . that it will be necessary to decide what territory does and what does not form part of the kingdom of Afghanistan."⁹¹The GÆernment of India had already proposed that,

a certain line be determined and announced, beyond which the authority of the amir did not extend, and that any Afghan found beyond this line be forcibly pushed back. The line was to be marked so as to exclude Asmar, Chageh and Wana from Afghanistan."

The amir still could not be moved, and continued the delaying tactics skillfully that he had adopted since 1888, when he had been asked for the first time to receive a British mission in Kabul. He accepted only after Russia embarked on its own forward march of the 1890s, toward the Pamirs and northeastern Afghanistan. At the same time Russia urged Britain to fulfil the so-called agreement of 1873, with regard to some territories across the Oxus held by the amir's troops, as described in Chapter Seven. Apprehensive about Russia's pressure the amir, at the request of the viceroy," received a small civil British mission in Kabul, led by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary to the Government of India. On November 12, 1893 the amir and Durand signed two agreements, one concerning northeastern Afghanistan, and the other concerning the southeastern region. The latter agreement, concerning the southeast, came

⁹¹

The Durand Agreement was an agreement to define the respective spheres Of influence of the British government and of the amir. Its Object was to preserve and to obtain the amir's acceptance of the status quo.¹¹³

The author, Louis Dupree, has grasped the essence or the agreement in stating that the object of the Durand Line was ⁶'. . . the extension Of the British authority and not of the Indian frontier." Further, he states "The Line was not described as the boundary of India, but as the eastern and southern frontier of the amir's domains, and the limits of the respective spheres of the two governments."116

By the word "interference" the amir as well as his successors meant armed interference, and they did not consider influencing the tribes) ¹⁷to be a breach of the contract. ¹¹⁸That was why they continually influenced the tribesrnen through many and varied non-military means in spite of the agreement. Further, like his predecessors, Amir Abd al-Rahman also looked on the tribesmen as the people of Afghanistan, and the Indus as the natural and demographic boundary of the country. 119 As described in Chapter Four, the people of the region were overwhelmingly Pashtuns, and Afghanistan itself had originated from this region.

By the amir's compelled adherence to the status quo, the Durand Line checked the extension of his actual control over his own kinsmen, depriving him . , of his natural sovereignty over the kindred Pathans of Bajaur and Swat."120 Hastily drawn on the map with a lack of local knowledge, the Line was not based on any natural,

TEN

bey)nd the borderland already affected, but he held to his engagements qith a high sense of honor and remained faithful to the pledges given to the British

I-he amir believed that he had saved Afghanistan, and his dynasty from imminent danger, but actually consented to the fragmentation of the country in the long run. and had alienated such a great portion of the population, including those who had taken a leading part in founding the country in the eighteenth century and who had defended it against external aggressors ever since. Consequently, it was natural for them to complain as they actually did When the British overran their country. They complained that the amir did not care, because, as they put it, he had sold them . to the British Government for money." As an excuse in a carefully written proclamation that was intended for the British, the amir declared that . . as you did not consult me when you raised this revolt, you are not justified in throwing blame on me." After reviewing Amir Sher ^cAi Khan's policy toward the British, which ultimately led to the downfall of his dynasty, Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan continued," Don't be led to think that, like Amir Sher ^CAli Khan, am such a fool as to annoy and offend others for your sake." However, he was careful not to alienate them forever, stating, "1f you now choose to leavc yourselves at my disposal and authority I shall try, please God, to settle your affairs with the British government satisfactorily. "134

The uprising, the military operations and the consequent expenditures made the British also cautious not to antagonize further either the tribesmen or the amir. A senior British offcial madc the folloving recommendation•

[I]nstruct our omcials on the frontier not to push forward, and not to give the amir any cause for suspicion. I would wait until the amir dies before making any further endeavor to bring the tribes under our control. believe we lose nothing by the delay. ¹³⁵

Quoted in Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 162.

For details see, Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Izah al-Bayan fee Nasihat al-Afghan [A Word of Explanation for the Benefit of Afghans], (Dari), 13 Aug 97, Sir R., Udny to secretary to government of Panjab, 24 Scpt. 97, PSLI, 96, No. 1043, No.

376.

Gulzad, 4#an 236.

REIATIONS wrrll THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 191

In conclusion, to obviate an assumed threat to their Indian empire the British deprived Amir ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan and his successors from their right to govern their kinsmen in the hope that the) themselves could do so to ensure the requirements of the Forward Policy. However, with the demarcation of the Durand Line they set in motion a movement that ultimately led to the division of Afghanistan and the bifurcation of the Pashtuns who had been the backbone of the country, founding and safeguarding it. This provoked the tribes to the extent that because of it they (the British) failed in their efforts to ensure the requirement of the Forward policy, despite their nuity in colonial affairs, their skill in dealing with overseas nations, and their military prowess as a superpower of the time.

Although the British still persisted in the implementation of the Forward Policy, the people of the region persisted in their efforts to retain their independence. To keep these ever-defiant people compliant, the British frequently undertook military expeditions against them, especially after the amir died, in 1901. In response, the local people continually resisted, and even carried on raids on India itself. For instance, from 1920 to 1938—that is, in the course of 18 years— they carried on eighteen such raids from the Tribal Areas. ^l%

An incidental corollary of these military expeditions and raids, as well as that of the Anglo-Afghan wars, was the strengthening of religious and xenophobic feelings of the people and the incremental increase in the influence of religious personalities. The raids were called ghazas in emulation of the raids carried on in Arabia at time of the Prophet Muhammad. Individual tribesmen likewise distinguished themselves in shovving their opposition to the Durand Line sometimes with such daring enterprises that they soon turned into legends. A conspicuous example of such a legend is the story of ^CAjab Khan Afriday, who abducted Miss Elis, a British woman, from her family, which was securely quartered in Peshawar, and treated her as an honorable guest, even providing her with European food that he stealthily procured from Peshawar. The story of these people's struggle is an odyssey of a fight for independence. All of this activity kept alive anti-British feeling and a state of permanent ararchy

Akbar, "Pakhtun Tribes in the Great Game", 195.

Mohmand, Siyal, de Mohmando Ghazaganay, (Pashto), [The Raids Of the Mohmands], University Book Agency, Peshawar, 1354/1975.

CHATTER TEN

pregnant with local and international tensions, not only during a timc when the British ruled India until 1947, and also to the present day. This colonial legacy is still a source of local and international conflict. and probably remain so until it is settled to the satisfaction of all those affcctcd by it.

CHAPI'ER ELEVEN

RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIAN OCCUPATION OF PANJDEH

Relations with Russia

Thc first official contact between Russia and Afghanistan was madc in 1837, when the government of Russia sent Captain Paul Vitkevich to Kabul to obtain its support for Persia's design on. Herat. Since the province of Herat was a part of Afghanistan, but then besieged by Persia, it was impossible for Vitkevich to succeed in his nis»on. What he actually did in Kabul is unknown, but whatoer overtures he might have made to Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, were rejected. Ironically, the Vitkevich's mission along with Persia's siege of Herat provided an alibi for the British Government of India to nvade Afghanistan, in 1838. The British Government feared that since after the conclusion of the Tukomanchay treaty in 1828, Persia had been under the influence of Russia, its occupation of Herat might endanger its Indian colony.

Earlier in the century, especially in the 1830s, some British and Indian Muslim travelers, among them Eldred Pottinger, Alexander Burnes, James Abbott, John \Vood, Percival Lord, 'Izzat Allah and Mehdi 'Ali Khan, had established that the routes through which Russia could reach India led through Afghanistan.²Thereafter, Herat was looked upon as the key or the gate to India. At that time, the Indian offcial circles believed that "[o]f all the external influences beyond Indian frontiers, the Russian advance in Central Asia threatening British supremacy in Afghanistan constituted the greatest danger."3 The "danger" also had something to do with the nature of

Yapp, M. E. , Straugies of Britivh India. Britain, Iran and Ughanistan, 1798—1850. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980, 234, 235. am grateful to Professor Yapp my Former supervisor at the University of London for giving me a copy of this excellent book. Waller, J. H., Boond the hJ•ber Pass, The Road to Blitish Disaster he First War, University of Austin Press, 1993, 97.

Gulzad, ne Afghan Stu, 15.

³Singhal, and Ughanistan, x].

the Russian empire that was compact, centralized, expanding and run autocratically by unpredictable masters. Also, as Plehvc, Russia•s minister of the interior stated at the time, "Russia has been made by bayonets not diplomacy." Actually, as B. H. Sumner states, ". . . the

root of the trouble lay in St. Petersburg itsclf where the different ministries were usually at loggerheads Bith one another, as well as often disided within themselves."⁴The British Empire, in comparison, was diffused, open, and ruled democratically. Since it had already reached its broadest limits its masters concerned themselves mainly 'svith safeguarding it. However, after the Vitkevich's mission Russia, did not pose a danger for Afghanistan for a quarter of a century.

After its defeat in the Crimean war (1854—56) and the perceived failure of its policies in Europe, Russia embarked on expansion southward in the vast region of Central Asia. Early in the century, it had already subdued the Kazakh steppes and established a strong military fort in Orenburg from which it dispatched troops in every direction. In 1864, Russia extended its authority to the borders of the organized • khanates, or states, of Khoqand, Bukhara and Khiva (Khwarazm or Khorezm). In the followhlg year (1865), it occupied Tashkand; in 1867, it created the new province of Russian Turkestan and compelled Muzafar al-Din, the amir of Bukhara, to sign a treaty in which he placed his state under Russia's protection; and in 1868, Russia annexed Samarqand. ⁵Russia then became, for the first time, co-terminous with Afghanistan and the Russian-dominated Central Asia a rival to the British-dominated South Asia.

Russia's advances sharpened the so-called 'Great Game.' Played by different actors in various forms to the present day, the phrase was first coined in the 1840s by a British traveler, Captain Arthur Conolly, and immortalized years later by the British poet, Rudyar Kipling, in his novel, The 'Great Game' referred to the rivalry that existed between Russia and Britain over the domination of Central Asia. The chessboard on which it was played was, however, much wider in extent and ". . . stretched from the snow-capped Caucasus in the west, across the great deserts and mountain ranges

Sumner, B. H., Tsardom and Impaiah.m in the Far East and Midd& East, 1880—1914, Archon Boks, 1986, 6, 14.

^sSinghal, India and Afghanistan, 9. Audrey, C. Sh., brag rears

Asian afghani-Stan Pakistan, University Press of America, Ianham, New York, 1994, 17.

AFGHANISTAN'S RELATIONS wrrH RUSSIA 195

of Central Asia, to Chinese Turkestan and Tibet in the east.

According to Peter Hopkirk. "The ultimate prize, or so it was fcarcd in London and Calcutta, and fervently hoped by ambitious Russians serving in Asia, was British India.'"'

The 'Great Game' escalated after Russia madc Khiva a protcctorate in 1873 and occupied Khoqand three years later, in 1876. This state, which included the fertile Fcrghana valley, was subsequendy abolished by Russia. The 'Great Game' became likewise a challenge to the rulers of Afghanistan ',Gth regard to how to safeguard their country at a time when the viceroys and military generals of the expanding Asian empires of Russia and Britain were trying to occupy new territories. All of this was in an age when no international community existed to curb the expansionist drive of the colonial powers. As noted in Chapter Ten, Russia regarded Afghanistan as a coun beyond its sphere of influence as the result of an understanding that had been reached between it and Britain, in 1873. Nevertheless, in 1878, Russia's governor-general at Tashkand, General Constantine P.von Kauffmann, forced a mission under General Stolietoff on Arrir Sher ^CAIi Khan in Kabul. Stolietoff is said to have concluded a defensive and offensive treaty with the amir? Two Afghan senior omcials, Mohammad Nabi and Mohammad Hassan Khan, later tdd General Roberts in Kabul, after he had occupied it that a "treaty" had been concluded. However, from the correspondence exchanged between the amir and Kauffmann the author D. P. Singhal has concluded that there was no 'treaty' at all." He has based his conclusion on the amir's letters, in which he had asked for military assistance from Russia without invoking the treaty. He had only requested Of Mohammad Hassan Khan, who was then in Tashkand, that Russia not withhold the aid of troops at this time of need and in accordance with the requirements of the friendship between the two Governments, and not to defer the aid till some other time, but to send to Ughan Turkestan the 32,000 troops of Tashkand which Geneal Stolietof told in your presence tvere reab and would be dispatched whenevc I required them. "B

6 Hopkirk, p. Great Game, The for Empire in Central Asia, Kandarbha International, New York, London, 1992, 2.

Singhal, India and 4khanishn, 34.
Singhal, D. P., "Russian Correspondence with Kabul, 1870-1879", Thtjmmal History, April 1963, No. 121, vol. W, Part 1, 122, 125.

lier a

Afghan Turkestan, the amir, in a letter, addressed to Kauffmann expressed his desire to proceed to the Russian capital to have a congress held there to inquire into and settle my cause with the English after asking them what right they had to advance on Afghanistan." Kauffmann hastened to advise the amir not to leave your kingdom", adding that the "Emperor has caused the British Government to agree to the continuance of Afghan independence, and that the "British Government have promised this." However, subsequently he wrote that the Czar had directed him to ask the amir to come to Tashkand. With regard to the military aid requested by the amir, he had earlier replied that " . it is imposSible to assist you now. I hope you will be fortunate. It all depends on the decree of God."9 Ill, betrayed, and helpless, the amir died in Mazar on February 21, 1879. Singhal writes,

Thus ended the life of a prince who refused to surrender an iota Of dignity before the threat of war and betrayal Of friendship alike, to accept diminution of his authority as a prelude to certain foreign domination, as had happened to many Indian and Asian princes. ¹⁰

When the British invaded Afghanistan, Russia ignored the treaty if it had been concluded. Russia not only did not provide arms and assistance to the amir, as it had agreed to if Afghanistan was attacked; Kauffmann even refused permission to the amir to cross the border, in January 1879. ¹¹

When Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan had died and his son and successor, Amir Mohammad Ya^yqub Khan, had been deported to India, and the roads south of the Hindu Kush had been occupied by the British, Russian omcials in Tashkand seemed to have devised a plan with regard to northem Afghanistan. This was during the period when

196

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196

lier a

196

lier a

196

lier a

196

lier a

196

lier a

AFGm.NISTAN•s RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA 203

a certain blunt autocratic naivete"52 applies to all of the Czars in various degrees. As a colonial power, Russia, like Britain, had deliberately set out on the road to grab land. In this situation its high priests, like Gortchakov, formulated views that justified not only the occupation of land, but also the slaughter of indigenous people, the plundering of their collective wealth, and the resulting disruption of their social. order.

Afghanistan's claim to the region inhabited by the Turkmen was historical as well as demographic. The Turkmen were linked to Afghanistan through Herat. Ghobar, maintains that Merv was a province of Afghanistan for centuries." According to Qui Sa'd alDin, the governor of Herat, formerly the elders of Merv and of Sarakhs accompanied Afghan rulers as their vassals, and, because they were subject to Herat, the elders of Akhal and the Tekke Turkmen were with Amir Sher 'Ali Khan in Kabul.^S4The Sarik Turkmen of Panjdeh were still more closely linked to Herat. Formerly, the Jamshedis, who were subject to Herat, inhabited Panjdeh, but were driven out of it by the Ax-sari Turkmen who, nevertheless, agreed to pay tribute to them. The Arsari Turkmen were, ir turn, expelled by the Sarik Turkmen in about the middle of the nineteenth century.⁵⁵The new settlers also agreed to pay tribute to the Jamshedi tribe, which had always been subject to Herat.⁵⁶In addition to the fact that the northem frontier of Panjdeh beyond Sari Yazi was the natural and traditional frontier of Herat,⁵⁷and that Merv itself was a dependency of Herat, by the time the Russians approached Panjdeh, the Afghans had established their rule

All of this demonstrates that Panjdeh was ethnically, geographically as well as historically a part of Herat, and through it a part of Afghanistan.

This explains why Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan, who knew the area well, Ifavored a forward policy there." a Muslim ruler, he enjoyed the support of the Muslim mlers of Central Asia and northern

⁵²Sumner, Tsardom and Impriaåsm, 6.

Ghobar, Afghanistan Dar Masir-e-Tari", 674. Fayz Mohammad, al- 47. ^ssYate, North 4fghanistan, 186. Fayz Mohammad, Sir$ al-Tauarih, 499.

Yate, North Ughanistan, 178.

peter Lumsden, Chief member Of the British delegadon to the Joint Afghan Boundary Commission quoted in Singhal, and 1 17. " Ibid., 113.

204 C.HAVI'ER

Nluslirn India, in particular the tribal area (later offcially called the North4Vest Frontier of India) and, after the fall of Panjdeh, these elders asked him to declare a jihad against Russia. ^M' A number of elders from Central Asia had either taken asylum with the amir, or cngagcd in correspondence with him."l Others, from Central Asia, had promised him that they would rise against Russia from within, when he rose against it from without."2 Consequently, because of these assurances the amir believed that in the event of war with Russia the Turkmen would rise en masse against it.⁶³As late as 1889, he even cherished the idea of raising a rebellion against Russia and becoming a second Timur Lane.^G4

In spite of all this, when the Russian forces arrived near ranjdeh, Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan instructed his army under the command of General Ghous al-Din Khan to desist from opposing them when they chose to attack it, and to retreat to Bala Murghab.⁶⁵He did so for the following reasons. First, he had been discouraged in his forward policy in the area by the British. In 1881, they had advised him not to accept the allegiance⁶⁶of the Tekke Turkmen of Merv, offered by their ruler, Makhdum Quli Khan.6⁷Perhaps for the same reason, the amir had earlier turned down the offer of submission by the khan of khwarazm.^böSecond, the British government had ignored the amir's warnings for the delimitation of the undefined boundaries of Afghanistan with Russia,⁶8 in spite of his repeated complaints to the effect that the British had abandoned their responsibilities with regard to Afghanistan, and about impending advances by Russia.⁷⁰At first, neither Britain nor India took the amir's warnings seriously. The viceroy, Lord Ripon, only reminded him that Afghan boundaries with Russia were so fixed in 1873, and that it would be unwise to reopen the question.⁷1

Fan Mohammad, Siro al-Taunnkh, 474.
, 483.
Mohammad Nabi, Sawal wa Jawab-e—Dawlati, 7.
Giechbach, C. L, to Ellias, 5 Mar 89 (Mazar), For Dept., Secret-F., Pros., May 1889, Nos. 216-225, NM.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir4 455.

Ripon to Hartington, 22 May 81, PSI-I, 28, 887.

⁶' Fayz Mohammad, Sir@ al-Tauur%, 388.

Ibid., 383.

The Amir's Visit to India, 1885. PSI-I, 44, Enclm, No. 3, 2.

^TOAn-ir 'Abd al-Rahman in darbar, PD, 9 Dec. 82, PSLI, 35, 5. Singhal, Indü aM UghaniÄ 107.

204 C.HAVI'ER

Fan Mohammad, Siro al-Taunnkh, 474.
, 483.
Mohammad Nabi, Sawal wa Jawab-e—Dawlati, 7.
Giechbach, C. L, to Ellias, 5 Mar 89 (Mazar), For Dept., Secret-F., Pros., May 1889, Nos. 216-225, NM.

Fayz Mohammad, Sir4 455.

Ripon to Hartington, 22 May 81, PSI-I, 28, 887.

⁶' Fayz Mohammad, Sir@ al-Tauur%, 388.

Ibid., 383.

The Amir's Visit to India, 1885. PSI-I, 44, Enclm, No. 3, 2.

^TOAn-ir 'Abd al-Rahman in darbar, PD, 9 Dec. 82, PSLI, 35, 5. Singhal, Indü aM UghaniÄ 107.

country. HC believed that if the Afghans opposed the Russians, and Herat and Maymana fell to them, the country would disintegrate." In his view, 's. . . war between Russia and England on Afghan soil would ultimately destroy his country, and his supreme interest was to avoid such a catastrophe. "78 Actually, the amir was opposed to any power, whether Christian or Muslim, who may try to pass through Afghanistan to fight against another country." '9 That was why, at the height of the crisis, he showed unwillingness to allow even a small number of British engineering officers to fortify the defenses of Herat. ⁸⁰Only in the event of Russia advancing on Heart would he have been willing to accept British troops,⁸¹and then together with them would fight with his arrny to the end.⁸²

On March 30, 1885 Panjdeh fell to the Russians. The Afghan troops opposed them, even though they were overwhelmed by them, and even though they had been handicapped by the amir's instruction not to fight. ^b3At the time Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan was on a state visit to India. When informed of the fall he advised his host "not to distress yourself (gham ma Not only did he not make any attempt to invoke the British commitment to Afghanistan which had been subjected to "unprovoked aggression", but he also

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

55, 1372. The amir has developed this theme in the above booklet. In his view "Any government which desires to pass through Afghanistan . . . is its enemy. If Persia desires to pass through Afghanistan to fight with the Chinese, she will be the enemy of Afghanistan. The same may be said of China if she wishes to proceed through Afghanistan against Persia. If the British ask Afghanistan to let them through it for war with Russia or Central Asia they will make Afghanistan their

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

The Amir's Visit to India, 5.
, 10.

Fayz Mohammad, Siraj al-Tawarikh, 455.

Singhal, India and Afghanistan, 120.

'9 Amir 'Abd al-Rahman, Nasgpih Namcha (A book ofAbia), PD, 22 Dec. 88, PSI-I,

Relations with the Ottoman Turkey

Afghanistan and the Ottoman Turkey had no commercial or other ties between them. However, as Sunni Muslim states separated by Shi'i Persia, they were traditionally on friendly terms with each other. Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan had great respect toward the person of the Caliph Sultan ^CAbd al-Hamid, and regarded him as thc protector of the Muslims, calling on ever-y Muslim to be loyal to him. ^lHThe amir's respect for the caliph sultan, as the guardian of Mccca and Medina and the spiritual head of the Muslim world was, of course, religiously significant, but more importantly, his autocracy and the police state he had created appealed to him. Additionally, it was prestigious for Afghan rulers to be on good terms with the Ottoman sultans.

The amir tried to respect and even imitate the caliph sultan. In The Booklet on Islamic Affairs (Risala-e-lslamiya), he declared that since the caliph of Islam had decreed that his subjects should pay ten percent of their annual income over and beyond their usual tax, his subjects should also do the same. ¹⁹Hence the exaltation of the sultan and of his innovation whether real or imaginary. In a firman, the amir called on his subjects, to "[ble at least as zealous in this cause as the subjects of the sultan of Turkey . . . who have offered their lives for the sultan."20 Further, in his treatises on jihad the amir expressed that he had been inspired by the example of the sultan, because, apart from the fact that they were both Muslims, both the Ottoman Empire and Afghanistan were threatened by the same power—Russia. Like the Ottoman sultans, the amir was likevsise on good terms with the British government and, conversely, on bad

Relations with the Ottoman Turkey

place and has reduced the Citizens to a state Of poverty bordering on despair.²

Still, by thc standard of the region and the time this combination of political centralization and indiGdual liberty was an accomplishment, and that time was needed for the country to become a modern nation-state. However, in 1878 the British invasion destroyed the whole arrangement. Thereafter, disturbances bordering on anarchy shook the society, until Amir 'Abd al-Rahman stabilized it by instituting such a rigid system of administration which the people of Afghanistan had never experienced.

During the British occupation, Afghanistan did not have a legitimate government; in fact, it did not even have a functional government, except in the city of Kabul and its immediate environs. The reigning ruler, Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, had died and the British had deported his son and successor, Amir Mohammad Ya'qub Khan, to India. In this situation, the Sunni Muslims of the greater Kabul region, known in the British offcial reports sometimes as the Ghazni Party and at other times as the National Party, strove for a ruler of their own to lead them in their struggle against the 'infidel' invaders. This was what time-honored tradition and Islam demanded, but since there were several claimants to the throne they failed in their purpose.

The British occupiers likewise failed in their efforts to elevate a Mohammadzay sardar of their choice to the throne; it was out of the question for them to rule the country directly. They failed because the National Party upheld the cause of the family of the late Amir Sher ^CAIi Khan. For the same reasons, a few middle-of-the-road Mohammadzay sardars also failed in their efforts to attract a substantial following, while the non-Mohammadzay elders who had distinguished themselves in the campaigns against the British invaders could not aspire to the throne for the simple reason that they were not Mohammadzays. Only the house of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan was viewed as the ruling dynasty.

The failure of the British omcials dealing with Afghanistan to set up a functional government was due to the opposition of its people. Prompted by their loyalty to their country', their religion and their own Muslim rulers, they opposed the British and their various schemes.

Bellew, H. W., From Indus he Tyis, u»ndon, 1874, 148.

place and has reduced the Citizens to a state Of poverty bordering on despair.²

Bellew, H. W., From Indus he Tyis, u»ndon, 1874, 148.

Afghanistan was invaded, conquered, occupied and dismembered; her peoples suffered mass arrests, collective fines and mass executions; yet she successfully sun+.vd all these Ordeals and acquired a political personality."

It was because of this "political personality" that Lytton was forced to change his Gew. It was also the reason that he had previously failed to rule over Afghanistan first through Amir Mohammad Ya'qub Khan and afterward directly, even when the country was to have been divided among Russia and Persia and British India.

After the uprising and the almost continuous unsettled situation, Lytton decided to evacuate Afghanistan, even if a new ruler had not beer found for it. This was because the resistance was appreciated even by the people of Great Britain, who replaced the government Of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, which had devised the 'Forward Policy' by the liberal government of William Gladstone in the genera] election that was held later, in April 1880. The Afghan war had become an issue in the election, and Gladstone won in part because he had promised an "honorable withdrawal" from Afghanistan. Unti the evacuation, set for October 1880, the search for a native ruler for what Lytton and his lieutenants called "Northern Afghanistan", an entity from which the provinces of Kandahar and Herat were to be excluded, continued.

This was during the period when Sardar ^CAbd al-Rahman Khan had arrived in Badakhshan from Samarqand, where he had lived in exile for eleven years. Lytton, who had declared war on Afghanistan, apparently in an effort to forestall the danger to India posed by Russia, had become so desperate that he tried to negotiate terms with a claimant to the throne who was a kriown Russian pensioner. He did so because, like him, 'Abd al-Rahman Khan was also opposed to the rule of any member of the family of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan.

Lytton found it necessary to search for an able dynastic rival because the National Party had already rejected the pro-British candidates to the throne. It accepted the sardar mainly in order to get rid of the 'infidel' invaders. Although, it had preferred the house of Amir Sher 'Ali Khan, its opposition to the 'infidel' invaders was Stronger. Further, the war had dragged on for too long and the people of Afghanistan as well as Britain desired for someone to bring

⁶Sirghal, Indu ad 178.

Wiatever their real aim, the British twice invaded Afghanistan, apparently in an to forestall a Russian danger to India. Toward that end, in 1878, Lytton desised a strategy to secure a line of defense along the passes of the Hindu Kush range. This made it necessary for British India to occupy Afghanistan up to or beyond the Hindu Kush—a scheme that, whether by chance or design, coincided with the western limit of the Mughal Empire at its zenith. But the Sunni inhabitants of Afghanistan foiled the scheme, as their fathers had foiled a similar British scheme some forty years earlier. The policies that the British Govemment of India adopted toward Afghanistan following each war were different. After the first war, it pursued the policy of 'containment', known as 'masterly inactivity', the essence of which was non-interference in the affairs of the land beymd the Indus, that is, Afghanistan. This policy which had a strong proponent in the person of John Lawrence, the govemorgeneral of India, was successful because no major clashes occurred during the period in which the policy was in place.

After the Second Anglo-Afghan War, two concepts crystallized in Britiål offcial circles, regarding Afghanistan, though both had been conceived of much earlier: the concepts of the 'buffer zone', and the 'scientific frontier.' ThcE concepts, which were interrelated, appeared to be a product of Russo-phobia, and were applied for the ultimate purpose of making India secure from the threat of a Russian invasion. Whether the danger was real is uncertain, but the fear of it was, and it perrneated circles in India whenever the Conservative Party was in power in Britain. This fear affected Afghanistan, internally as well as externally. To make India secure, the British governmcnt attempted to nuke Afghanistan secure from Russian influence; at the same time it sought an additional alternative. The former made it necessary for the British government to arrange a buffer zone, and the latter to occupy strategic points in Afghanistan's eastem hinterland.

The idea of creating a buffer zone between the empires of Russia and Britain in Central Asia was an old one, which had årisen following the British withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1841. Three years later, in 1844, Britain and Russia had arrived at an understanding conceming what was known as the 'Asiatic Question.' They agreed that ". . . the Khanates of Central Asia should be left by Russia to form a neutral zone the two empires, so as to preserve them Wiatever their real aim, the British twice invaded Afghanistan, apparently in an to forestall a Russian danger to India. Toward that end, in 1878, Lytton desised a strategy to secure a line of defense along the passes of the Hindu Kush range. This made it necessary for British India to occupy Afghanistan up to or beyond the Hindu Kush—a scheme that, whether by chance or design, coincided with the western limit of the Mughal Empire at its zenith. But the Sunni inhabitants of Afghanistan foiled the scheme, as their fathers had foiled a similar British scheme some forty years earlier. The policies that the British Govemment of India adopted toward Afghanistan following each war were different. After the first war, it pursued the policy of 'containment', known as 'masterly inactivity', the essence of which was non-interference in the affairs of the land beymd the Indus, that is, Afghanistan. This policy which had a strong proponent in the person of John Lawrence, the govemorgeneral of India, was successful because no major clashes occurred during the period in which the policy was in place.

The demarcation of Afghanistan's northern boundary, and Russia's pledge that Afghanistan lay beyond its sphere of influence made it a buffer zone as far as Russia was concerned; however, this was not so Äith regard to Britain. Britain controlled Afghanistan's external relations, and, in addition, British India was coterminous with Afghanistan's eastern and southern populous hinterland, where even the drawing of an international boundary could not alter the status quo. However, because Russo-phobia was so pronounced in British offcial circles, the British Government of India decided to have an altemative line in Afghanistan's hinterland. This was after Britain had realized that it could not establish a forward line along the Hindu Kush range. British offcials referred to this alternatÄe line a 'Scientific Frontier.' In an age of European optimism when sheer assumptions were called 'laws', they called this assumption also 'scientific'. Probably, the real purpose of this 'Scientific Frontier' was the containment of India itself, lest its people rise up against the British, at the instigation of Russia.

Henry Rawlinson, the "high priest of the forward school"" had expressed this phobia when he stated that

India is a conquered country, where a certain amount of discontent must be ever smoldering which would be fanned into a chronic condagration by the contiguity of a rival European power. ^I

However, the demarcation of the Durand Line proved disastrous. Shortly after its introduction, in 1897, it led to the greatest uprising against the British west of the Indus, forcing them to employ more troops than they had in their two wars in Afghanistan. Subsequently, it •also resulted in numerous clashes between the British forces and the ever-defiant peasants of the frontier regions, until Britain left India in 1947. The problems emanating from the so-called 'scientific Frontier', as well as the Anglo-Afghan wars, have left a legacy of anti-British feelir& that is still alive to the present day.

The demarcation of the Durand Line made it imperative for the British to try to make Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan neutral as far as the frontier tribes were concerned. In this regard the British followed a carrot-and-stick policy to compel the amir to keep out of afairs of the tribes, at the same time that it increased the amount

33-

East, London, 1874, 144.

Henry Rawlinson, the "high priest of the forward school"" had expressed this phobia when he stated that

India is a conquered country, where a certain amount of discontent must be ever smoldering which would be fanned into a chronic condagration by the contiguity of a rival European power. ^I

33-

East, London, 1874, 144.

For to oppose tribe, from among its neighbors. This was, of course, standard practice, but the amir also would instruct his offcials to create dissension between tribes to weaken them in relation to the government—a tactic that none of his predecessors had adopted. Consequently, this divide-and-rule policy deepened old animosities that existed between tribes, and created new ones among the ra^cyats, a practicc that weakened national solidarity. The amir also inculcated a fear of the infidels among the ra^tiyaLs, and set the jihad movement, or a kind of ideological war, in motion.

Scores of other new measures were also adopted to keep the ra^tiyats calm. For example, the amir placed restrictions on the movement of the ratpats, sometimes even from one to another. Additionally, efforts were even made to keep the rebellions secret, and anyone who talked about them as well as politics was punished. Once a man's lips were sewed closed because he had talked about politics. The subjects of peace, war and politics even though they affected the lives of people in a fundamental way, were considered to be the concern only of the amir and of those who were directly involved in them.

The suppression of the rebellions took a tremendous toll on the population. The number of casualties from the uprisings and the number of those who were killed by the police will never be known; the amir quotes a figure of over 100,000. In a population of approximately six million, even this number, if true, is propordonately very high, and many times higher than the combined number of Afghans and the British killed in the two Anglo-Afghan wars. In addition, those persons who were in a position to oppose the government were either killed or expelled, or they went into exile for safety.

226

Amir Afghanistan and its dependencies the towns Kandahar and Jalalabad with all thc territory now in possession of the British armies, excepting the districts of Kurram, Pishin and Sibi. His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and is dependencies agrees on his part that thc districts of Kurram and Pishin and Sibi, according to the limits defined in the schcdule annexed. shall remain under the protection and administrative control of the British Government: that is to say, the aforesaid districts shall be treated as assigned districts, and shall not be considered as permanently severed from the limits of the Afghan kingdom. The revenue of these districts, after deducting the charges of civil administration, shall be paid to His Highness the Amir. Thc British Government will retain in its own hands the control of the Khyber and Michni Passes, which lie between the Peshawar and Jalalabad districts and of all relations with the indepen&nt tribes of the territory directly connected with these passes.

For the further support of His Highness the Amir in the recovery and maintenance of his legitimate authority, and in consideration of the effcient fulfillment ili their entirety of the engagements stipulated by the foregoing Articles, the British Government agrees to pay to His Highness the Amir and to his successors an annual subsidy of six lakhs of Rupees.

26 May 1879 — 4 Jamade-Ussani 1296

The Durand Ageement or the Kabul Convention of 1893

Whereas certain questions have arisen regarding the frontier of Afghanistan on the side of India and whereas both His Highness the Amir and the Government of India are desirous of settling these questions by friendly understanding, and of fixing the limit of their respective sphere of influence, so that for the future there may be no difference of opinion on the subject between the dlied Govemments, it is hereby agreed as follows:

The eastern and southem frontier of His Highness's domains, from Wakhan to the Persian border, shall follow the line shown on the map attached to this agreement.
The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan, 236

Amir of Afghanistan and its dependencies the towns of Kandahar and Jalalabad with all thc territory now in possession of the British armies, excepting the districts of Kurram, Pishin and Sibi. His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and is dependencies agrees on his part that thc districts of Kurram and Pishin and Sibi, according to the limits defined in the schcdule annexed. shall remain under the protection and administrative control of the British Government: that is to say, the aforesaid districts shall be treated as assigned districts, and shall not be considered as permanently severed from the limits of the Afghan kingdom. The revenue of these districts, after deducting the charges of civil administration, shall be paid to His Highness the Amir. Thc British Government will retain in its own hands the control of the Khyber and Michni Passes, which lie between the Peshawar and Jalalabad districts and of all relations with the indepen&nt tribes of the territory directly connected with these passes.

For the further support of His Highness the Amir in the recovery and maintenance of his legitimate authority, and in consideration of the effcient fulfillment ili their entirety of the engagements stipulated by the foregoing Articles, the British Government agrees to pay to His Highness the Amir and to his successors an annual subsidy of six lakhs of Rupees.

26 May 1879 — 4 Jamade-Ussani 1296

The Durand Ageement or the Kabul Convention of 1893

The eastern and southem frontier of His Highness's domains, from Wakhan to the Persian border, shall follow the line shown on the map attached to this agreement.
The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan, future as far as possible all causes of doubt and misunderstanding bctMecn the two Gou•rnmcnts.
Being fully satisfied of His Highness's goodwill to the British Gowrnment, and Mishing to see Afghanistan strong, the Government of India 'Will raise no objection to thc purchase and import by His Highness of munitions of war, and they will themselves grant him some help in this respect. Further, in order to mark their sense of the friendly spirit in which His Highness the Amir has entered into these negotiations, the government of India undertake to increase by the sum of six lakhs of rupees a year the subsidy of twelve lakhs now granted to His Highness.

Kabul, November 12, 1893

The Covenants of Unanimi5, 1895

Following is an English translation only of the covenant, which the Mohammadzay sardars gave to Amir %Abd al-Rahman Khan after Kafiristan was conquered in 1896. All other groups of the people throughout Afghanistan followed their example—the Hindus, artisans, businessmen, nomads, soldiers, and civil and military offcials. Some of these covenants were identical with the one that the Mohammadzay sardars gave. Others were slightly different, but all were signed by the mullas, tribal elders, countersigned and offcially sealed by the muftis and qazis. All stated that the covenants were issued with the "free" consent of the people. On 26 Asad 1275 H.Sh. (7 Rabi' al-Aww•al 1314 H.Q., 17 August, 1896) a grand total of

194 covenants were presented to the amir, who named that day Jashn-e-Mutafiqqiya (The Festival of Unanimity). In the covenants the people undertook in strong words to confer the title of Zia alMillat-e-wa al-Din (The Light of the Nation and Religion) on the amir. They also pledged themselves to defend the boundaries of Afghanistan, now fixed for the first time. They likewise undertook to obey and observe the religious and secular arrangements that the amir had made, to remain faithful to him and his descendants, and to accept the hasht nafari (one out of eight) system of conscription.

2.39

The Corenant

"'l*he purpose of this covenant is this. Since the Almighty God, out of extreme graciousness. has chosen a leader of the religion and the state of Afghanistan from among the Alohammadzay tribe, and madc us and the other tribes of Afghanistan subjects of this august existence, and since by following is meant obedience, and obedience makes incumbent upon the followers to follow the sovereign, and since we, the above-mentioned tribe, because of close relationship, are the first in obedience and following, so obedience in the sense of following became our right. The other tribes of Afghanistan should follow our lead. "

"Therefore, we state that, since the title of imam is obligatory on behalf of the Almighty God and, since our King who, out of religiosity expelled from the country the tribes opposing the religion, has certainly and evidently not failed to fulfil the five religiously and worldly commandments, their safeguarding became our right.'

"And again, since he has improved the disorganized state of the land, its consolidation has become obligatory on us. "

"Again, since he defined the boundaries with our close neighbors and with those far away, their safeguarding became our duty"

"Again, since he reconstructed the fallen and ruined mosques and pulpits, and fulfilled religious commandments by appointing the president, the muhtasibs and prayer leaders, their preservation became our duty."

"Again, since he manifested honesty in state affairs we arc duty bound not to commit treachery to its integrity. Now that our sovereign has fully fulfilled his responsibility, it is incumbent upon us followers to act accordingly so that it should not happen that while our imarn has fully fulfilled his duties, we stand shameful when we present ourselves before the real King, in accordance with tyc real promise of the day, when all the people go forward with their imam as has been mentioned in the Quran."

"Therefore we, the Mohammadzay tribe who, in line with the general principle, considered ourselves the number one followers, observed and understood and held God as guarantor and His Prophet, (may peace be upon him), as witness, swore on the Quran, which has been sent by God, not to give away his acquired land to anyone so long as we have the power and the strength."

"Secondly, not to disrupt the arrangements he has made.

"I hirdly. to safeguard the boundaries. which arc thc frontline so long as Me have the soul and lifc in our body."

"Fourthly. not to dispute the right of the religion and to strengthen our religious arrangements of God and thc Prophct."

"Fifthlv. to recognize his sons as the inheritors to his crmvn and kingdom, not to dexiatc from his will, to keep on obeying whether he is alive or dead, be on guards to dangers all the time, not to be ignorant of our responsibilities to our selves, to our religion and honor and of the other Muslims, and it is for his sons, neither for us nor for our descendants to choose the inheritors, so that we may have acted in accord with the heavenly dispensation and arc not shamed in this world and the next."

"And also whoever puts forward claims for amirate, during the lifetime or after the death of our king, is either the untrue son of his father, or is not from our religion, or has intended a new destruction. And also since we would like to see his name remembered forever in Islam we add the title of Zia al-Millat wa al-Din after his blessed name. 1313. '

Signed and sealed by the descendants of the Amir-e-Kabir,

Sardar Amir Mohammad Khan and Wazir Fatih Khan

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

For a detailed maluation of the unpublished and publishcd documents and implir. tant secondary sources see kakar. and Sonet_v m Afghanistan, 243

Manuscripts

Isfahani, A M . al-Taunnkh [The Histories of Aman [Allah]], 3, •rhc original of this velumc as •.sell as of thc six other volumes in the senes arc in the private collection Of Mr. and Mrs , lionnidis in Cambridge, Massachusetts. U.S.A. A cops, of volume 5 can be found in The National Archive in Kabul.

Tarzi, Mahmud, Remznucewes. A Short History ofan Era, 1869—1881. Translated from the original Persian and edited into English by Wahid Tarzi. A-copy this is available "8th this author.

'npubluhed Dcument_s

Unpublished records ue pemmnt ' of A*nistan

Filcs relating to th reign Of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan. Afghan Archi'al Records have not yet been made publiG, but I was given access to them. What I actually found was so little, whereas the records pertaining his reign were very much.

Unpublished records the Bnhsh government of India

In London in India Offce Libran and Records now In the British Libran , Political and secret letters and enclosures received from India 60m 25 to 141 covering the period from 1878 to 1902.
In New Delhi in the National Archives of India Foreign and Political Department.

The above twö entries are the most comprehensive archival sources there are in any language on nineteenth century Afghanistan.

håhs&d records and oficial publications hblicaåonu of the government Oj afghanistan

Kalimal-e-Amir al-mad fee Tawhib jihad [The Words Of the Amir Of the Land for the Encouragement of Jihad], Kabul, 1304/ 1386.

[The Islamic Management Of Turkey], Kabul, 1 31 1 / 1894. kah al-Bevan fee Nasihat al-Afghan [A Word of Ad•åce for the Benefits of UghansJ, 1897; PSI-I, 96, No. 1043, No. 376, India Offce library, London. Namcha (A Book of Advice), Kabul, 1886.

Saual wa jauub-e-Dau•laa (The Amir's Inteniew with the Viceroy], Kahil, H.O. 1302/1885.

Püh[rannns n] go.•emmev India and Britain

Papers relating to Afghanistan. Narrative of Events in Afghanistan. 1878—1880.

Biographical Accounts or Chiefs. Sardars and others of Afghanistan. Calcutta. 1888. l)ispatches from thc government of India containing a Statement of the Cases •rried before the Militan CommisGon, London, 1880.

.\lilitar-,• Report on Afghanistan, New Delhi, 1925.

Gazetteer of Afghanistan. Kabul pt. 4, Calcutta, 1910.

Gazetteer of Afgllanistan, Kabul pt. 4, Calcutta. 1895.

Imperial Gazetteer of India. ProGncial Series. North West Frontier Prcnincc. Calcutta. 1896.

Warner, 1„., Kafiristan, Calcutta. 1896.

Wlwrle•r. J. T. Memorandum on Afghan Turkistan, Calcutta, 1896

Memoranda-Parliamcntary Questions, Chitral, Kaliristan, etc., London, 1896.

Adamcc, L, .•Vghanistan, 1900 -1923. A Diplamatw History, Uniw•rsity Of California Press, Berkeley, 1967.

Alder, British Northern Study m Impaial Polity, 1895—95. London, 1963.

Allworth, E. , Cenlya{ Asia, Columbia University press, New York, 1967.

Arrian. 77te Campaigns Transl. by Aubrey de Selincourt, Penguin Books,

Audrcv, C., Long Years of hilt, Central .4sian Refits in .4fzaniftan and Pakistan, Unixersity Press of America, Lanham, New York, 1994.

Baburnama, of Babur, Bina and Emperor, Translated, edited and annotated by Thackston, M., The Modern Library, New York, 2002.

Balfour, B, The Hi-si0D' of I_md Izvtton's Indian Administration, 1876—1880, 1899. Bamyani, B. , Aigah-e-ba Tarikh wa Kultur-e-BaJhmdagan-e-Hmyan (Persian), [A Glance at the History and Culture of the Inhabitants of Bamyan], Privately published, Peshawar, 2001.

BarfieH, J. T. , Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan, Unisersity of Texas press at Austin, 1981.

Bellew, W. H. , The Rapes Q/ Afghanistan, London, 1880.

, From the Indus to the Tigris, London, 1874.

7bumal of a Political -Iftssion io Afghanistan in 1857, London, 1857.

Burncs, A. , Cabool, First published in 1842, Reprint, 1973, Graz, Austria.

Canfield, R. , Faction and Conversion in a Plural .%ciety, Religious .41@nmenis in the Hindu Kush Ann Arbor, 1973.

Chomsky, N The Problem of Knowledge and Freedom, Vintage Books, 197 1 .

Curzon, Lord, Tales of Travels, London, 1923.

Davies, C. C. , The Problem of the North Frontier, Cambridge, 1932.

Dcbcts, G. F., P&ysical Anthropology of Afghanistan, Transl. by Proston, E„ ed. held, H.. Russian Translation Series of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, Harvard Cnivcrsity press, vol. v, No. l .

Dounes, E., Kgfris/an, London, 1873.

Duff. G. , 77te Ughan policy the Beacon$eld Administration, London, 1880.

Durranay, Sultan M. , Tann-e-sultani, (Persian) [The History of Sultan]] Bombay, 1298 H.Q.

Edwards, D, Heroes of thr Age, California University Press, Berkeley, London, 1996. Effendi, Sirdar M. A. K., Royals and Royal Mendicant, A Tragedy of the Ughan History, 1791-1947, Eon press, Lahore, [1948?].

242