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11/1/1990 - Afghanistan and Empire: A Historic Overview. by Carol V. Rose

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT WRITER SCONSENT CVR I INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS Bath Street Oxford OX4 IAY England November AFGHANISTAN AND EMPIRE A Historic Overview Carol Rose There ironically appropriate place begin adventure South Central Asia birthplace British Raj Britain decades trained finest young scholars conquer world behind great stone parapets Oxford University The spirit Empire lingers cloisters galleries still adorned crests ancient Kings Although locals refer dreaming spires Oxford monuments Englishman perspiring dreams cynical blind power wealth colonial Britain emanating elaborate stained glass New College Chapel great domes towers Sir Christopher Wren Wandering groomed gardens watching swans grassy banks River Thames imagine young British adventurers dreamed travelling untamed frontier Britain empire Asia Afghanistan Carol Rose ICWA fellow writing cultures South Central Asia visiting fellow Oxford University Refugee Studies Programme Since InstituteofCurrentWorld Affairs theCrane Rogers Foundation hasprovidedlong termfellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about international areas issues Endowed bythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalsosupportedbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations THE MOGUL FAMPIR around those mountains people there first J Batuta crossed Kabul A D Batuta wrote Hindu Kush derives So slaves I female mountain owing severe quantity DAR eGOLC In century first Briton CentraZ As named Zahir Muhammad I Babur captured I JI _ofKabulatthebaseof Hindu Kush Babur descendent Timur Chenghiz Khan establ great Mogul Empire centuries ruled H million people today EMERGENCE OF AN EMPIRE embraces Afghanistan Pakistan India Between steppes Central Asia steamy Although Babur never plains Pakistan India returned Kabul writes massive capped historian W K Fraser Tytler peaks Hindu Kush Like others Aristotle called period their greatest mountains devotion Kabul remained East Alexander Great constant throughout founded their remainder shadow And while countless scenes conquest tried tamed grandeur which might CORYAT ON AN ELEPHANT South Asia often fanciful Here Tn Coryat East India Cnpany merchant 1600s shown weaing spurs perches saddle elephant obliterated rugged beauty His memoirs often thoughts reverted highland capital which after conquest northern India never return where finally under great chenar trees Bagh Babur The first Britons India merchants British East India Company lured Asia promise sPices silks precious stones Among first description Afghans Edward Terry served chaplain Sir Thomas Roe third voyage British East India Company The learned tongues Persian Arabian which write backward Hebrewes There little learning among reason whereof their penury bookes which their manuscripts But doubtlesse strong capacities there literature among would authors excellent workes Figure mature flour under Mogul Emperor ahangir ruled They heard Aristotle Aplis bookes translated Arabian Avicenna noble physician borne Samarcandia countrey Tamerlaine whose science skill The common diseases countrey bloudie fluxes fevers calentures which M XUE Edward Terr first BEitons visit Afghanistan arriving prescribe fasting principall remedie That filthy disease consequence incontinencie common amongst The people generall about They delight musicke stringed instruments which never seemed anything discord They write wittie poems compose stories annals their countrey professe themselves skill astrologie Merchants followed British soldiers seeking protect fortunes Empire cadre elite civil servants comprised governing superstructure British colonialism known Raj By middle Century Raj would extend quarter world population empire would extend beyond present borders India Pakistan The Raj trained natural sciences literature philosophy often meticulous journals flora fauna people Empire The famous chronicler Afghanistan Mountstuar Elphinstone Britain envoy Kabul Governor India compiled observations classic Account Kinqdom Caubul which wrote following An English traveller India would Afghans favourable He would pleased climate elevated novel scenery delighted meeting productions native He would first struck thinness fixed population appearance people fluttering white muslins while their bodies naked soberly decently attired coloured woollen clothes wrapped brown mantles large sheep cloaks He would admire their strong active forms their complexions European features their industry enterprise hospitality sobriety contempt pleasure which appear their habits character FEARLESS WARRIORS Elph instone western scribes after based their observations eastern tribes Afghanistan first contact These fiercely independent mountain people known Pushtuns Pathans Indeed Afghanistan itself stems Persian Figure fight Oxford sholar Shuyler Jones Afghan meaning Pashtun speaker Thus Afghan technically refers select group tribes resented Pushtun ethnic groups present Afghanistan The western stereotype Pushtun familiar bearded warrior crouched behind rifle raised Fraser Tytler served British crown India until expounded warlike image Pushtun The Afghans never looked other savage hills their neighbours until P suddenly emerge years sovereigns dominion Contact world brings Pathan latent spark administrative genius power rulership But those remained sheltering great tangle hills which between Hindu Kush Indus untouched civilizing influences their cultured neighbours demand world nothing freedom fight among themselves their neighbours MAP RUSSIAN BRITISH ADVANCES TO AFGHANISTAN OVER THREE CENTURIES MAP SOUTH CENTRAL ASIA USSR CHINA AFGANISTAN IRAN SAUDIARABIA INDIA INDIAN OCEAN always The British Afghanistan always colored Pathans Kipling verse which depicted fearless strong crafty Schuyler Skye Jones Department Ethnology Prehistory Oxford University curator Pitt Rivers Museum They brave fighters fiercely independent which qualities British greatly admired Schuyler Although British trouble great chaps fight THE LOSING BATTLE Romantic images Afghan Pushtun warrior magnified Britain failed three times extend military hegemony Afghanistan Then foreign invaders superior power found Afghanistan easier invade conquer One prophetic story British Resident Baluchistan Khan Kalat British entered Kabul without firing The Khan replied Yes You people entered country No doubt similar questions could Soviet Union today It Britain years million British lives extricate itself Kabul after invasion Soon thereafter Britain adopted policy administration Afghan border known Sandeman System It named after Figure Western stereotypes often picture Afghan bearded warrior crouched behind rifle Century engraving entitled Afghans Professionally Employed tzeaty Britain Century British administrator Robert Sandeman asserted Afghans tribesmen enemies friends His system simple Britain tribal leaders enough money maintain their cadres armed In exchange Afghans agreed guard trade routes carry policies tribal Jirgas congresses In again Dost Mohammed Khan Amir governor Kabul signed friendship treaties British formalizing England occupation Punjab present Pakistan Those treaties basis British territorial known North West Frontier Province still Pakistan today Meantime London beginning worry about another threat Empire South Asia This menace unruly Afghan tribes imperial armies Czarist Russia EMPIRES IN COLLISION As Britain battled extend control eastern border Afghanistan 1800s Russia advancing southern border toward Kabul Herat See Map One Russian swallowed northern princely states Afghanistan which St Petersburg referred Khorasan Kingdom Kabul The Czar forces seemed pause enough digest tribal kingdom before marching Tashkent Samarqand Khoqand later conquest generating alarm among rulers British India Whether wrote Saturday Review country England alternative advancing North West frontier India leaving Russia discretion convenience seize Herat Ten years later British Prime Minister issued ultimatum demanding permanent diplomatic military presence Kabul deterrent Russian intervention Instead Amir Sher Ali Afghanistan invited Russian mission Kabul discuss British interference Britain countered mounting troop invasion Afghanistan through Khyber Bolan passes But after capturing border areas British bogged outside Kabul Meantime Amir Sher Ali St Petersburg plans convene international conference protest British invasion Along however Amir And again Britain Pushtun ruler Afghan throne their client provide saving retreat military defeat That Amir Abdul Rahman One ruthless leaders Afghanistan Abdul Rahman persecuted smaller tribes nationalities Afghanistan throughout reign He reportedly S otsman warned Britain attauk Afghanistan To avail Four years later England retreated heavy losses great pleasure publicly torturing enemies throwing wells starving death When percent population Kabul Was prison Nonetheless Amir Britain Afghanistan And Amir Abdul Rahman Britain signed Durand treaty establishing border between Pakistan Afghanistan exists Two years later Anglo Russian Pamir boundary Commission agreed demarcation mountainous region northern Afghanistan adding poetic their final report Here amidst wilderness above level absolutely inaccessible within living creatures except Pamir eagles three great Empires actually No fitting trijunction could possibly found Once Anglo Russian boundary agreed Afghan amirs enjoyed relatively peaceful decades living generous stipends British government The common people Afghanistan meantime lived according ancient tribal traditions Then April Abdul Rahman Amir Habibullah Khan declared Afghanistan independent nation Britain fearing independence would spread India ordered troops Afghanistan Despite troop advantage arsenal advanced mortars tanks aircraft British pinned outside Kabul hundreds Afghan guerrilla attacks It became clear Britain would defeated Afghanistan third A cease declared after month When negotiations ended Britain agreed recognize Afghanistan sovereign nation Twenty years later British Empire India collapsed Formal statehood afforded Afghanistan temporary respite foreign intervention The Soviet invasion decade forced people Hindu Kush fight against domination distant European power Thus future struggle peace determination continues people Afghanistan SOURCES FOR MAPS AND FIGURES Map The Mogul Empire William Foster Early Travels India Oxford University Press London Map Russian British Advances Afghanistan Over Three Centuries W K Fraser Tytler Afqhanista edition Oxford University Press New York Map South Central Asia Task Force Militarization Asia Pacific June Figure Jahangir Foster Figure Coryat Elephant Ibid Figure Edward Terry Ibid Figure Afghans Professionally Employed Lieut Col Alexander Burnes Cabo Beinq Personal Narrative Jo urne7 Resident City Years John Murray London Figure Dost Mohammed Khan Ibid Figure Alexander Burnes Ibid____ FOOTNOTES I H A R Gibb The Travels Batuta quoted W K Fraser Tytler Afqhanistan edition Oxford University Press New York Toronto Fraser Tytler William Foster Early Travels India Oxford University Press London Mountstuart Elphinstone An Account Kinadom Caubul Dependencies Persia Tartary India Richard Bentley New Burlington Street London Fraser Tytler Rishtia Qasim Afqhanistan Qaran Nauzdham publisher known Kabul published between Reprinted Raja Anwar The Traqedy Afqhanistan Verso London Dilip Kumar Ghose Enqland Afqhanistan The World Press Private Ltd Calcutta Incidentally Britain policy favoring Pushtuns boosted strength group other ethnic groups Afghanistan laying foundation ethnic strife erupted there 1970s persists amidst Afghan refugee populations Quoted Friend India Aug reprinted Ghose It interesting historical footnote Afghan territory annexed British today under formal jurisdiction Pakistan remains autonomous subject Pakistani Anwar Fraser Tytler Received Hanover