A Short Account of Afghanistan, its History, and our Dealings with it

Preface

The object of this book is to lay before the public a short history of Afghanistan, which, can be read in a few hours, and will give, the author trusts, an accurate account of the history of a country at the present time attracting considerable attention from the importance of its position in relation to our Indian Empire.

The author having been present in Afghanistan during part of the Afghan war, is able in these pages to supply some details from his personal experience as well as information derived on the spot; for the rest, he wishes to express the obligations he is under towards the authorities from whom he has derived his information; they are--Kaye's "Afghanistan War," various histories of India, Elphinstone's "Kingdom of Cabul," the "Account of the Massacre of the Cabul Army," by Lieutenant Eyre, Malleson's "History of Afghanistan," and other books, together with letters and articles in various magazines and newspapers.

TEMPLE, January, 1881.

Afghanistan

In this book I propose to lay before the reader a short account of the history of Afghanistan from the earliest time to the present day, including accounts of our first Afghan war of 1838-42, the present war, and the Afghan question.

I do not propose to enlarge upon the geography of the country, but simply to state roughly the boundaries of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is bounded on the north by the Oxus river, and a line drawn from that river to Persia, dividing Afghanistan from Khivan territory. On the west Afghanistan is bounded by Persia; on the south by Beloochistan; on the south-east by British India, from which it is clearly separated by the Suliman and Safed Koh ranges of mountains; on the east Afghanistan is bounded by Cashmeer. Originally the Afghanistan that I have here described was only part of a kingdom whose capital was Bokhara.

All invaders of India coming from the north have passed through Afghanistan. As far back as the year 518 B.C. Darius, King of Persia, crossed the Indus, and annexed a large portion of the north of India to his kingdom.

Alexander the Great was the next invader of India. Having subjugated Cabul about 331 B.C., he passed the mountains, crossed the Indus at Attock, and defeated King Porus on the Jhelum river; thence he pushed on as far as the Sutlej, which he was compelled to make his boundary, as his troops could not be induced to advance further, though he himself desired to traverse the districts bordering on the Ganges, of whose wealth he had received fabulous reports.

In A.D. 1001 we hear of the next important invasion of India from the north, by Mahmood of Ghuzni. This king in several expeditions conquered a large part of northern India, penetrating as far as Somnath, from when he removed the sandal-wood gates of a celebrated Hindoo temple to Ghuzni in 1024. These gates afterwards became the subject of Lord Ellenborough's "Proclamation of the Gates," of which I shall say more hereafter. Under this king Ghuzni rose to be one of the most splendid cities of the world, filled with marble palaces and treasures, and so remained until 1152, when it was sacked and greatly destroyed by Alla-ood-deen. The dynasty of Mahmood of Ghuzni lasted until 1186.

The next rulers of Afghanistan were those usually known as the House of Ghore, of whom Mahomed Ghory was the most renowned. He invaded India from Afghanistan, defeated the King of Delhi and his allies, and established the second Mahommedan dynasty at Delhi. His empire was further pushed on by his commanders over Behar and Bengal. This prince died in 1206.

Shortly afterwards Jenghis Khan, the ruler of the Moguls, a tribe of Tartars, laid waste the whole of Central Asia, and marched as far as the Indus. In 1298 the Moguls again attempted an invasion of India, but were defeated near Delhi. A hundred years later, namely, in 1398, Timur, or, as he is sometimes called, Tamerlane, having made himself master of Central Asia, advanced to the conquest of India. Crossing the Indus at Attock, he plundered the country as far as Delhi, after which he returned and recrossed the river.

The next invasion of India from the north was that of Baber, in 1519. Baber was the sixth in descent from Timur; he had captured Cabul in 1504, and had there maintained himself, notwithstanding perpetual warfare against the Uzbeks. After four expeditions against India with doubtful results, he finally, in 1526, met the Emperor Ibrahim Lodi in the plain of Paniput. In the battle fought there Baber was completely successful, and seated himself on the throne of Delhi.

It is extraordinary to find the numbers recorded as opposed to each other in this battle, it is said that Baber's army consisted of but 12,000 men, all hardy veterans, while Ibrahim Lodi's army numbered nearly 100,000 men; the battle lasted the whole day, and resulted in the complete defeat of the Emperor of Delhi, who lost 15,000 men, and was himself killed. After conquering Chunderee, Oude, and Behar, Baber died in 1530. His body was carried from Agra to Cabul. His son Humayoon succeeded him on the throne of Delhi, but being defeated by Shere Khan, he was finally driven out of India in 1540. However, in 1545, having obtained assistance from Shah Tamasp, the Persian monarch, he attacked and took Candahar, and made himself master of Cabul; and shortly afterwards, taking advantage of the weakness and profligacy of Adeli, who was now Emperor at Delhi, Humayoon crossed the Indus once more in 1555, and defeated the forces sent against him. He now for a second time mounted the throne of Delhi; six months later, however, he slipped on the marble floor of his palace, and received injuries from which he died. He was succeeded by the greatest of the Moguls, Akbar. Akbar was not, however, allowed to succeed quietly to his father's throne, for he was attacked by Hemu, a Hindoo who was in command of Sultan Adeli's army, and again, for the second time, the plain of Paniput was the scene of a great battle in which the rulers of Afghanistan attempted to obtain possession of the throne of Delhi; after a severe contest, the army of Sultan Adeli was completely defeated, and its gallant general Hemu taken prisoner and put to death. This battle seated Akbar securely on the throne of Delhi, 1556.

Bengal and Orissa had both been governed by descendants of the first conquering Afghans, until in 1576 Daood Khan was defeated and slain by Akbar's generals, and with him terminated the rule of those Afghans in the two provinces, a rule that had lasted over 200 years.

Akbar was now master of the greater part of India, but there still remained to him to reduce the north-western border-tribes of Khyberees and hill-men, who could not be restrained from their predatory expeditions, by either threats or liberality.

For this purpose Akbar sent against them a strong force; the expedition was, however, most disastrous, 40,000 men having been said to have been cut off in the mountain passes and destroyed. Akbar then adopted a different mode of warfare against these tribes, and established a chain of fortified posts throughout the mountains, from whence his garrisons were able to sally out whenever the hill-men collected, and by which the hill-men were cut off from their supplies and communications with the plains; and this plan seems to have succeeded fairly well, though it had not the effect of civilizing or taming the people. During the reign of Akbar and his successors, Candahar was frequently lost and regained by them in their struggles with Persia, until the power of the Court of Delhi being weakened by continual dissensions and rebellions, and the incapacity of the monarchs having destroyed the strength of the state, Afghanistan was left free from all control from India; and Candahar, with a large part of the country, fell under the power of the Shahs of Persia, Abbas II., and his successor Suliman. In 1709 the Ghilzie Afghans revolted, and made Candahar independent of the Persian Crown; and finally in 1722 Mahmood, the Ghilzie Chief, took Ispahan, and became King of Persia. On the death of Mahmood his son succeeded him, and Afghanistan remained in a state of semi-independence until Nadir Shah became powerful in Khorassan. This extraordinary man defeated the Abdali Afghans in Khorassan, the Ghilzies in Persia, and the Turks and Russians in the west, and having been crowned king, he invaded Afghanistan, and laid siege to Candahar; from thence he sent messengers to Delhi; one of his messengers, however, received but little attention, while another was murdered on his journey. Exasperated by this treatment, Nadir Shah determined to invade India. Having crossed the Indus with a large army, he defeated the Emperor of Delhi, and entered the city with him in 1739. A short time after his arrival at Delhi a disturbance arose between the inhabitants of the city and Nadir's army, from which a general massacre of the inhabitants ensued. After having inflicted this terrible massacre on the people of Delhi, and after having plundered the whole country, and collected enormous spoils, Nadir Shah returned to Persia, leaving Mahomed Shah restored to the throne of Delhi, but extending his own territories to the Indus. Nadir Shah, whose career had been from its commencement marked by cruelty, treachery, and baseness, was assassinated in his tent by his own people in 1747.

His throne was seized upon by Ahmed Khan, an Abdali Afghan, of the Sudoozie family, a name which he shortly afterwards changed to Durani, which name they at present bear. He advanced into India, but was defeated by the army of the Emperor of Delhi. Not dispirited, however, by his defeat, and seeing that the country was in a state of great confusion owing to the death of the Emperor Mahomed Shah, Ahmed Shah Abdali again advanced into India, and made himself master of the Northern provinces. These provinces were afterwards confirmed to him by treaty. Disputes having again broken out between Ahmed Shah Abdali and the Court of Delhi, he for the third time advanced into India, captured and sacked Delhi, and again retired across the Indus.

Ahmed Shah then leaving Timur, his son, in charge of the Indian provinces, returned to the North.

The next year Timur was attacked by the Mahrattas, and defeated. In order to avenge this defeat, in 1759, Ahmed Shah once more commenced an invasion of India; in this, his fourth invasion, he defeated the armies of Scindia and Holkar, who were opposed to him; and finally in January, 1761,at Paniput, where already twice before the fate of India had been decided, he encountered the whole Mahratta power. For days the two armies lay opposed to each other without any decisive action taking place, but at last reduced by famine, and by sickness engendered by the dead bodies around their camp, the Mahrattas commenced the attack. Their army had been one of the finest that India had ever seen, and was estimated at over 250,000 men, while that of Ahmed Shah consisted of but about 80,000; but famine had greatly reduced the ranks and strength of the Mahrattas. The battle was fiercely contested, and at one time it appeared as if the victory would remain with the Mahrattas, but Ahmed Shah brought up his reserve, some of the Mahratta chiefs fell, and others withdrew; thereupon the Mahratta army was thrown into confusion, and victory remained with the invader. The loss of the Mahrattas in this campaign was estimated at 200,000 men; had they gained the day, the fortunes of India would have been changed; for they would then have been the greatest power in the country, and we ourselves should perhaps not have obtained the hold that we now have in India. After this decisive victory of Paniput, Ahmed Shah Abdali remained master of India, since having destroyed the strength of the Mahrattas, there was no other power that could cope with him; but it was not his policy to become Emperor of Delhi, he therefore retired into Afghanistan, after having restored the almost nominal sovereignty of the Mogul, a sovereignty which was destined to last until the Indian mutiny. Shortly after his return to Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah died, and was succeeded by his son Timur, who moved the capital of his kingdom from Candahar to Cabul, as he distrusted both the Candahar people and the Duranis, who had supported his brother against him on his father's death. Timur governed the country well, and collected the taxes regularly, so that without wars his exchequer was full, still he was troubled with rebellions on all sides, the lightness of his rule leading the chiefs to imagine that they could rebel with impunity. This prince died in 1793, leaving twenty-three sons, of whom Zemaun Shah was chosen as king; but although chosen king, his kingdom had to be conquered, for there were signs of revolt amongst various chiefs, and two of his brothers were in open rebellion. Nevertheless, by rapid and determined movements, he counteracted the plans of his brothers, and having settled Cabul and Candahar, he marched his army through the mountains into India, and made himself master of Lahore and the Punjab. In 1798, Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of India, received a letter from Zemaun Shah, stating his proposed expedition into India, and requesting the co-operation of the English army for the purpose of driving back the Mahrattas from the north into the Deccan; Scindia and Holkar having invaded Delhi and Agra some years previously. The power of Zemaun Shah was not at that time known to be as weak as it really was, for judged by the history of his grandfather's reign, he was supposed to be a powerful prince. Nevertheless Lord Wellesley, with the object of securing a treaty with Scindia, sent Zemaun Shah's letter to him, saying that it was the desire of the British Government to maintain the present princes of India in the position they then occupied. Lord Wellesley did this with the object of checking Tippoo Sultan, who was at this time making great preparations in order to drive the English out of the country; and with this object was urging Zemaun Shah to proceed with his invasion in the North, while at the same time he himself was gaining all the assistance he could from the French, with whom at that time we were at war in Europe. However, Tippoo was killed at the fall of Seringapatam on the 4th May, 1798.

Notwithstanding Tippoo's death, it was considered necessary that we should protect ourselves from any attack that Zemaun Shah might deliver, supported by the French, who it was supposed intended marching into India through Persia and Afghanistan. In 1799, therefore, for the purpose of strengthening our hands, Captain Malcolm was sent by Lord Wellesley upon a mission to Persia, in order to form an alliance with that country. This if satisfactorily arranged would, owing to our command of the sea, place us in a position to land troops when required in Persian territory.

A treaty was concluded between England and Persia by which the Persian king promised to advance into Afghanistan, should the Afghans attempt an invasion of India, and an allied army of England and Persia was to resist the French, should they attempt an invasion from Europe; also all French agents were to be excluded from Persia. However, the Afghan invasion came to nothing, Zemaun Shah was blinded by his subjects, and became a pensioner of the British Government, and Shah Mahmoud became the ruler of Afghanistan until deposed by Shah Soojah.

In 1808 another mission was despatched to Persia, as it was then considered that the relations of that Court with France were of a dangerous character to ourselves. Persia afraid of the designs of Russia, thought France was the only power who could interpose effectually in her favour; but even then Napoleon's career was closing in, for the French were being rapidly driven out of the Peninsula by Wellington.

In 1809 Mr. Elphinstone was sent upon a mission to Shah Soojah, the King of Afghanistan, and satisfactorily concluded a treaty with him. Mr. Elphinstone describes the king as magnificently attired, covered with jewels and precious stones, while everything around him appeared luxurious in the extreme, his tents were decorated with silk, and silver bells, and a portable house of two stories, that could be set up by a hundred men in an hour, accompanied him on his march. But the state appeared to Mr. Elphinstone to have little vitality in it, and to be but a great kingdom going to decay. He describes the Afghans as treacherous, and ready to plunder their guests as soon as they had left their houses. He describes an attack upon the house tenanted by the Embassy at Peshawur, which was with difficulty suppressed, and which somewhat resembles the attack upon the Embassy at Cabul in 1879, and the attack upon Burnes' house in 1841; only that fortunately in this first attack the sedition was checked before any damage had occurred. Shortly after Mr. Elphinstone's arrival at Peshawur, and his gracious reception there, Shah Soojah marched against Shah Mahmoud, who had rebelled against him, captured Candahar, and advanced upon Cabul. In this expedition against his rebellious subject Shah Soojah was defeated, and fled as a refugee to the Court of Runjeet Singh, the Sikh king, who entertained him for a short time, but, taking advantage of his misfortunes, extorted from him much treasure, as well as the celebrated Koh-i-noor diamond, which is now in our possession among the regalia, having been obtained by us when we took the Punjab. Shah Soojah, after a short time, escaped from Runjeet Singh, and became a British pensioner.

Afghanistan was now torn by internal dissension, no ties of blood or honour were of sufficient strength to prevent treachery, until after frequent plots, and much fighting, Dost Mahomed, the most capable of the Afghan chiefs, attained supreme command in 1826. Dost Mahomed was brother of Fati Khan, chief of the Barukzies, who, after having raised Mahmoud a second time to the throne by defeating Shah Soojah, and after having brought the country into good order, and governed it with great force and power for Shah Mahmoud, had been treacherously seized and subsequently murdered by the order of the very man for whom he had done such good service, and whom he had raised to be king.

While the brothers of Fathi Khan were rebelling against Mahmoud Shah, and while Dost Mahomed was obtaining for himself the chief command in Afghanistan, Russia was pushing on her frontier at the expense of Persia, and although we were bound by Malcolm's treaty to assist Persia, yet we sent her neither men nor money as we had agreed, maintaining, rightly or wrongly, that the war was commenced by Persian aggression, although no doubt the provocation came from Russia. Finally we paid a sum of money to obtain the erasure from the treaty of the articles concerning the help we were to give.

This was certainly doubtful policy on our part, and the fruits of it were soon shown, for Russia having obtained, by her various successes against Persia, considerable hold on that country; her agents, with the object of thwarting England, commenced instigating the Persian monarch to attack Afghanistan in order to obtain possession of Herat and Candahar, which places had formerly belonged to the Persian Crown.

In 1835 Lord Auckland was appointed Governor-General of India by the Whig Ministry, and received a letter of congratulation from Dost Mahomed, to which he replied in a friendly manner, and the next year sent up Mr. Burnes, afterwards Sir Alexander Burnes, on a commercial mission to Cabul, where he was favourably received by Dost Mahomed, and his commercial mission changed into a political one.

Shortly after Burnes' arrival in Cabul, a Russian agent arrived there, bearing purely commercial letters to the Ameer from the Emperor of Russia. This agent, however, was received with but little attention by the Ameer, as Dost Mahomed was aware of the rivalry between England and Russia, and preferred to have the former for his ally.

The chief object that the Ameer had in view in allying himself with England was the recovery of Herat and Peshawur, both of which places had been separated from his crown during the recent troubles in Afghanistan; for while Dost Mahomed had been obtaining the chief power in his distracted country, Runjeet Singh had by gradual encroachments pushed his frontier northwards, and finally at Noushera had defeated the Afghans, and thereupon claimed Peshawur, and in fact, had nominated and installed an Afghan governor in that place, who paid him tribute; and about the same time, Kamran, the son of Mahmoud, the late King of Afghanistan, had established himself in an independent position at Herat. Hence it was that Dost Mahomed applied to us for assistance, thinking that we might induce Runjeet Singh to give back Peshawur.

Mr. Burnes himself was inclined to the policy of a strong Afghanistan, under a ruler friendly to ourselves, and thought that Runjeet Singh might easily be induced by us to give back Peshawur to Dost Mahomed, to be held by him as tributary to Lahore, and this would have greatly strengthened the Ameer's position. But the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, wrote to Mr. Burnes instructions entirely contrary to this plan, and Mr. Burnes was compelled, against his own inclinations and opinion, to let the Ameer see that Lord Auckland discountenanced all idea of his recovering Peshawur. Now, it was important for Dost Mahomed to have Peshawur added to his kingdom, as his brother, Sultan Mahomet, his declared enemy, was striving to obtain full power over that country, and thus situated in so important a position, he formed a standing menace to the Ameer's Government.

Unable to attain the assistance that he wished for in one quarter, the Ameer naturally turned to the other quarter. Burnes had started on his mission with miserable toys instead of the handsome presents of the previous expedition under Elphinstone; he had been directed to ask much, and to give little, and as Dost Mahomed clearly put the matter, " we proposed to assist him, but our assistance really was hastening his ruin."

It was not unnatural, therefore, that our embassy should fall into disrepute; as.the influence of Mr. Burnes began to fail, that of the Russian agent rose; for, although the Ameer had been kind and straightforward, what was to be expected but failure under the circumstances; in Burnes' own words, " Lord Auckland must have been the most sanguine of men had he expected any other result."

The Ameer therefore entered into negotiations with the Russian agent, which resulted in his receiving from the Russians large promises of help and assistance, and decided help in the shape of an attack upon Herat by the Shah of Persia, at Russia's instigation, and assisted by Russian officers.

The Whig Government now thought it necessary to make a counter move against Russia, and urged Lord Auckland to adopt vigorous measures in order to counteract Russian aggression, both in Persia and Afghanistan. Lord Auckland having got himself into this unfortunate position by his hesitating policy, afraid to fix himself with the slightest liability, now began to consider how he should proceed, and finally came to the conclusion that there were three courses open to him.

1st. Simply to maintain the line of the Indus, and leave Afghanistan to its fate.

2nd. To assist the chiefs of Afghanistan.

3rd. To assist Runjeet Singh and Shah Soojah to march to Afghanistan, and take the country.

Lord Auckland chose the last, and despatched Mr. Macnaghten to the court of Runjeet Singh for the purpose of making a triplicate treaty with him and Shah Soojah, for the conquest of Afghanistan, and for placing Shah Soojah on the throne. We therefore came to be acting against Dost Mahomed, instead of with him, and thereby we found ourselves in the position of setting up a weak king who had been deposed by his subjects, and been living in exile for years, against Dost Mahomed, who was recognized as the most capable chief in the country, one who had always wished to be our friend, who preferred our friendship to that of Russia, and who had always been willing to be guided by our councils when they were not opposed to his own interest, and who, further, had never been guilty of any treachery towards us, and this is saying a great deal for an Afghan.

In 1838, therefore, according to the new policy, a large British force was collected on the northern frontier of India, in order to march via Candahar to attack the southwestern portion of Afghanistan; with these Shah Soojah and whatever troops he could collect, was to march, while Captain Wade, and the son of Shah Soojah, were to advance with the Sikh troops, our allies, through the Khyber pass.

Opinions, both in England and India, were loudly raised against this war, which was one, undertaken against a chief who had done us no harm, except in so far as listening to Russian advice, because we had declined to assist him. Loud complaints were also raised on account of the avowed object of the expedition being to prevent Persia from taking Herat, and, this being the case, it seemed somewhat inconsistent that we should make war on the ruler of Afghanistan, in order to prevent the ruler of Persia from taking a city which at that time was independent of both kingdoms, and which was even then making a vigorous defence against the army of the Shah. In this defence the people of Herat were assisted by a young Englishman, Eldred Pottinger, who, by his energy, pluck, and skill, so baffled the enemy that, after spending many months before the walls, with considerable loss of life and treasure, the Shah of Persia was obliged to raise the siege, and retire from the contest; now, as this took place before Lord Auckland's manifesto of the war was published, one of the objects for which we proposed to go to war was already accomplished. After the failure of the expedition, when these things came to be criticized, and it was found out that Burnes' advice would, had it been followed, have given us all we desired, without any war, ugly rumours got afloat as to the manner in which his despatches had been tampered with, before being presented to the country by the Government.

However, the war commenced, and various troubles occurred in crossing the independent country of the Punjab and Scinde, which lay between our frontier of those days and that of Afghanistan, for not yet was thought of the celebrated despatch which surpassed Caesar's veni, vidi, visi in brevity, namely "Peccavi," "I have sinned," when the conquest of Scinde was completed by Napier. The commands in the west were entrusted to Sir Willoughby Cotton and Sir John Keane; the former marched by Ferozepoor and Shikarpoor to the Bolan Pass, which he traversed in six days, after losing many baggage animals and much baggage, and Sir John Keane, with the Bombay division and the Shah's army, having made their way through Scinde after overawing the Ameers of that country, followed Sir Willoughby Cotton up the Bolan Pass to Quetta, where Sir John Keane took command of the whole force.

In April, 1839, Shah Soojah entered Candahar. Up to this time the army had suffered in physique from want of provisions, and had lost large numbers of its transport animals and baggage, but had met with no opposition from the enemy.

After a long halt at Candahar to collect supplies, Sir John Keane advanced upon Ghuzni, which he took by assault. The Cabul Gate was blown up, whereupon Colonel Dennie, at the head of the stormers, rushed in, and shortly afterwards three cheers announced that they had established themselves within the walls. Colonel Sale followed Colonel Dennie, and after much severe fighting we obtained possession of the place. The fall of Ghuzni astonished the Afghans. Dost Mahomed Khan fled across the frontier of Afghanistan, and his guns were found in position, and captured. On the 6th of August, 1839, the army reached Cabul, and the next day the king entered the city in state. Shah Soojah was now restored to his kingdom, but it was found that he was unable to govern it without British assistance. While these events were taking place in the west, Captain, now Colonel Wade, with the Sikhs, had pushed up the Khyber, taken Ali Musjid after a

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short resistance, and through Dakka and Jellalabad, reached Cabul. Our Sikh allies had proved themselves but very weak-hearted in the cause, and no dependence was therefore to be placed upon them.

Much annoyance was as usual caused by the Khyberees until they were bought off.

In the south, Khelat was captured by assault as a punishment for the frequent depredations committed by the Beloochees.

The danger of Russia in Afghanistan had, it appears, been greatly magnified in the minds of our statesmen, by an expedition she had undertaken in 1840 against the Khan of Khiva, in order to chastise him for his slave-dealing propensities; Russia affirming that the Khan had taken several Russian subjects and kept them in slavery. It was supposed that this expedition would push on against the Shah of Bokhara. But the force was attacked by famine, and unable to advance owing to the cold and the rugged country through which it had to pass. On the failure of this expedition all fear was removed for the time from the minds of our statesmen concerning Russia's counter-move in Asia. This expedition and its failure is somewhat similar to Russia's expedition against the

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Tekke Turkomans which failed in 1879; the expedition that they have lately organized on a much larger scale under General Skobeleff, the Balkan hero, has been fairly successful.