Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

Hitherto in Afghanistan freedom of movement had been permitted. There was nothing to prevent the entire population of a village from crossing the border if the majority of its elders were so inclined. Abdur Rahman checked this liberty, instituting a system which allowed none but the authorised to move between the great centres of the country or to venture beyond its frontiers. It is not to be supposed that he was able to maintain free from abuse his new order of government. Spoliation and embezzlement had existed so long in Afghanistan that recourse to them had become second nature to every functionary. Each official, whether he were the product of the new order or a remnant of the old, was corrupt and regarded abuse of office as the customary symbol of administrative power. The existence of such a practice necessarily threw into confusion any attempt at reform; and, although Abdur Rahman produced much elaborate machinery, departmental disorders continued unabated. In Kabul, in spite of many high-sounding titles, the methods of the new order were still regulated by the principles of the old.

To the ignorant or to the zealous this condition of affairs may perhaps be disappointing; but in any Oriental government the first and only thought of the official classes is the enhancement of their own interests and the enrichment of their private coffers. Abdur Rahman put a stop to the sale of public offices, but he could not control the disbursement and acceptance of bribes by which such offices can be awarded; and, from the highest to the lowest, while success favours the delinquent, his crime attracts no attention so long as he may distribute his favours. Even under Abdur Rahman it was rarely that officials of importance were brought to book, while to-day the Throne itself visits the avaricious by exacting the repletion of its privy purse at the expense of justice.

TOMB OF THE EMPEROR BABER NEAR KABUL

It is of course to the credit of Abdur Rahman that he began his task at the beginning. At the time of his succession the system of government was so involved that the entire machinery of the civil administration was carried on by a staff of ten clerks, who were controlled by an official combining within himself the functions of every executive officer.[31] There were no public offices and the seat of government was the bedroom of this man. There were no books; the statements of expenditure and the records of government business were entered upon small slips of paper, 8 inches long and 6 inches wide, each sheet containing the briefest abstract of the matter with which it was concerned. If any reference were required it frequently happened that thousands of these pages had to be examined. In order to remedy this system of keeping records Abdur Rahman introduced ledgers and record books, the defacement of which was an offence punishable by the amputation of the fingers. From this, in due course, he proceeded to create a military and civil administration. Under military administration, in addition to the armed forces of the army, militia and levies, he included the departments concerned with the manufacture of every variety of war material and the industries associated with each. All workmen employed in these concerns and all foreigners, whose services were retained by the Government, were brought within the supervision of the military bureau. Upon the military side, too, he arranged that pay-sheets should be honoured monthly, while treasury disbursements, which were incorporated in the revenue branch of the civil department, were made annually or, in certain exceptions, bi-yearly.

The civil administration, as ordained by Abdur Rahman, still continues. It embraces the Boards of Treasury and Trade, the Bureaux of Justice and Police, the Offices of Records, Public Works, Posts and Communications. The Departments of Education and Medicine are a separate organisation. The Board of Treasury is divided into four departments of Revenue and Expenditure—northern, southern, eastern and western—in connection with which there are the State Treasury and the Private Treasury. The State Treasury is controlled by the State Treasurer and the Councillors of the Exchequer, who render accounts to an Accountant-General. Statements of revenue and expenditure are receipted daily and every evening an abstract, showing the transactions of the day and countersigned by the heads of the departments concerned, is submitted to the Amir. The Private Treasury is occupied solely with the income and monies of the Royal Family. Each Treasury is divided into two branches, the one being set aside for payments in cash and the other for the reception of transactions in kind. The Board of Trade includes the Caravan Department and the Customs House Department. Branches of these are established in the larger centres and appeals from them pass through the chief bureau in Kabul, where they are referred to the office of the Financial Commissioner, Mirza Shah Beg Khan, for presentation to the Amir when the necessity arises.

Government is conducted through the agency of a Supreme Council and a General Assembly drawn from three classes. At present these are certain Sirdars who take their seats as members of the Royal Clan; the Khans, who are representatives of the country; and the Mullahs, who are the representatives of the Mahommedan religion. Abdur Rahman modified in some degree the rights and privileges of the Sirdars in connection with the Royal Durbars; nowadays only those who are the descendants of the Amir Dost Mahommed Khan and his brothers, or who have received the specific sanction of the Throne to bear the title, may occupy a place at them. These three classes are divided into two parties. One of them is known as the Durbar Shahi or the Supreme Council; the other is called the Khawanin Mulkhi or General Assembly. These representatives are convoked by a call from the Aishak Akasee, whose position resembles that held by the Lord Chamberlain in England. It is his duty to summon all the members of the Supreme Council and to arrange their seats according to the order of their merit. He has another subordinate officer, who is called Omla Bashi, who notifies the General Assembly and takes a receipt for the delivery of the notices of meeting. On their arrival outside the Durbar Hall councillors are received at the gate by another officer, called Kabchi Bashi, who is a deputy of the Aishak Akasee. The Kabchi Bashi introduces members of the General Assembly to the Aishak Akasee.

Upon the attendance of these three Estates of the Realm the Amir reads a proclamation or makes a speech on the subjects which are claiming the attention of the meeting and at the same time asks their opinion. This usually results in the expression of the same views as those held by the Amir, as this assembly has neither the capacity nor the courage to detect anything wrong in the law or policy of their sovereign. Another mode of introducing an alteration of the law is that some member or members of this assembly may lay a petition before the Amir, to which sanction may be given. The most important factor in securing any change, consists in the daily reports from the magistrates, the governors, the ecclesiastical and criminal courts, the revenue department and other offices of the Government, who forward their decisions for approval and sanction, or send in their petitions or the petitions of tribes in the country requesting the Amir to sign a new ordinance. If the Amir forms a favourable opinion upon these documents they are enrolled in the Record Office of the Government.

The Amir’s Supreme Council or Cabinet differs from the English Cabinet in that there is no Prime Minister and that the Cabinet cannot give any advice to the Crown without being asked to do so. The Amir is seldom absent from his Council, but its assemblage simply depends on the pleasure of the Crown. If the presence of any member is unpopular in the country, the people have the power to protest against it.