Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

KABUL: ITS PALACES AND COURT LIFE

MISS BROWN, PHYSICIAN
TO THE AMIR’S HAREM

The road from Kandahar to Kabul in its present condition is one of those permanent improvements with which the late Abdur Rahman endowed Afghanistan. Under the ægis of that energetic ruler the old caravan routes between Kandahar and Kabul, and Kabul and Herat, were replaced by first-class military communications, the elders of the villages in the several districts traversed being held responsible for their security. The road to Kabul runs north-east from Kandahar and the distance is 315 miles. The two points of importance are Kelat-i-Ghilzai, on the right bank of the Tarnak river and 85 miles north-east of Kandahar, and Ghazni, 225 miles north-east of Kandahar and 78 miles south-west of Kabul.

There is no town at Kelat-i-Ghilzai; but there are two small walled villages not far from the fort to the north-west and a few nomadic encampments upon the surrounding plain. The fort stands upon an isolated plateau, which in places is very steep. There are two gateways, respectively situated upon the northern and southern faces of the work. The quarters of the garrison are arranged along the eastern and western faces and a battery of four guns is posted upon a neighbouring height. The garrison is not large and the defences have suffered from neglect. There is good water from springs within the perimeter of the fort; but the position is endangered by the existence of certain features in the immediate vicinity which command the walls, and also by the facilities for cover offered by the character of the approaches. The bazaar is small, containing fifty shops: in addition there are several Government granaries and a residence for the Governor.

Ghazni, the capital of the Ghilzai country and the principal centre between Kandahar and Kabul, occupies a very important point, since it commands the road through the Gomul Pass to Dera Ismail Khan. From its strategical position, too, it must be considered the pivot to any line of operations against an enemy advancing from the west or north; while its possession in the hands of an Indian army would place such a force astride one of the most important channels of communication in the state. It is situated upon the left bank of the Ghazni river, on level ground between the river and the termination of a spur, running east and west from the Gilkoh Range 7730 feet above sea-level. The place spreads itself out to the south and east, but the river checks its expansion on the west, the stream leaving but a confined space between its left bank and the knoll where the citadel stands. It is surrounded by a high wall, built upon the top of a mound, in part natural and in part artificial. The wall is of composite construction, stone and brick-masonry laid in mud having been employed in its erection. It is flanked at irregular intervals by towers and possesses a total circumference, inclusive of the citadel, of 1750 yards.

The citadel is situated at the north angle of the town, upon an abrupt, detached knoll where the hills terminate. It lies 150 feet above the plain and dominates the city completely. Its defences are a high masonry wall, loopholed and provided with a parapet, but no rampart save the natural hill. There are four towers at the angles, but these are small and insignificant. The citadel has no other strength than that afforded by its commanding situation and formidable slopes; the area of the summit of the knoll is limited and the buildings are not adapted to shell-fire. The town and citadel are both commanded by hills to the north, but the former is in a measure sheltered by the position of the latter. The supply of water is unreliable and there is only one well within the walls. The view from the citadel is extensive, but by no means inviting, as the plain is very indifferently furnished with villages. There are very numerous shrines—197 being the number given—which are surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and small corn-fields. Excepting along the course of the river the plain is bare and empty, although it is broken up by the irrigation channels which cross the road at intervals of 8 or 10 miles. Distant hills extend in low ranges of bare rock. The country skirting them is a waste of stone and scrub, in the possession of wandering Ghilzais whose flocks of goats, sheep and camels share the pastures with wild deer, wolves, foxes and hares. The black-hair tents of these nomads of the desert, pitched in the sheltered hollows of its surface for protection from the keen westerly wind, impart to the scene its sole sign of human habitation.

The town itself is dirty. The thoroughfares, lined with houses several storeys in height, are narrow, dark and irregular. Near the base of the citadel, upon its easterly and westerly aspect, there is a small open space varying from 100 yards to 150 yards; upon the southern side the houses crowd close up to the rock. From the Khanah Gate to the Kandahar or Bazar Gate, a street runs with some pretensions to uniformity of breadth and directness of course. Another leads north-east to the open space upon the west of the citadel, while from the Kabul Gate there is communication by several narrow and somewhat tortuous lanes. The houses are built of mud; only in rare instances do they possess domed roofs.

The population fluctuates according to the season and the amount of trade passing into India. It seldom rises above 8000 people nor falls much below 3000 people. The inhabitants are largely drawn from the Nasir, Suliman Khel and other Ghilzai clans, who are concerned with the through caravan trade viâ the Gomul, together with a certain proportion of Duranis and Tajiks. There are, also, 250 families of Hazara labourers and perhaps 200 Hindu shopkeepers, bankers and traders. The community in Ghazni is very mixed, ignorant, superstitious and, if the Hindu element is excepted, without wealth. Hindus in Ghazni are required to wear tight trousers instead of loose ones, a black cap in place of a turban and to pay a capitation tax. Upon compliance with these restrictions they receive protection and contrive to control the trade between India and Afghanistan. The chief trade of the place is in corn, fruits and madder, all of which are largely produced in the district. Wool and camels’-hair cloth are brought into the market from the adjoining Hazara country; and, since the British occupation of Wano and the opening up of the Gomul Pass, local commerce has developed. Agriculturally, the district is a rich one. Large crops of wheat and barley are obtained, the capital itself drawing no small proportion of its grain supply from this market. In addition to the land under cereal cultivation there are magnificent pastures, while the fruit is no less celebrated. The excellence of the apples surpasses that of those grown at Kandahar, although the Kandahar melons, an especial production of that city, are superior to the variety which are reared at Ghazni. For corn and apricots Kabul makes a heavy demand upon Ghazni; but the madder grown in the vicinity is almost all exported to India, while tobacco, corn and the castor-oil plant are grown only for home consumption.