Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

MRS. CLEVELAND

Frankness and self-reliance were, perhaps, the most prominent characteristics of Abdur Rahman’s nature. At the same time, he was a genial, strong, clever man of the world, well-informed upon all subjects of general interest, eloquent, resolute, logical and possessed of much innate humour and facility in repartee. Always alive to his own interests, he possessed no small capacity for intrigue; and his first bid for position in Afghanistan was as the nominee of the Russians, General Kauffman, the Russian Governor-General of Turkestan, having arranged that he should be supplied with 200 breech-loading rifles, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, accoutrements for 100 horse and 100 footmen and 5000 Bokhara tillas (35,000 rupees). Yet, when he appeared across the border and arrived at a secret understanding with the Government of India about his nomination as Amir, he posed as the champion of his faith and the liberator of the land from foreign domination, suppressing, in order to do this, all mention of his agreement with us and of his relations with Russia. Nevertheless, as soon as his own position was secure, he curtailed the influence of the mullahs.

It was no part of the Russian scheme that Abdur Rahman should go to Kabul. They had calculated that, as we were about to retire from Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman might drive out General Ghulam Haidar from Turkestan and establish himself as ruler. Later, if circumstances should permit and the British nominee at Kabul prove weak or incapable, they expected to strengthen their position there and, at last, to see all Northern Afghanistan under Russian occupation. With our acceptance of Abdur Rahman as Amir, he realised that the interests of himself, his dynasty and his country lay with us. Resolved to obtain all he could from the British Government, he was perfectly good humoured and contented when he found that all his demands could not be granted. He spoke of Russia with friendliness, and acknowledged his obligations to her for the seven years of hospitality that had been shown him. He absolutely denied any agreement with or dependence on her; and, making light of the circumstances under which he left Tashkent as also the instructions and assistance he had received, he preferred, with the aid of England, to reign as an independent sovereign. The results of his rule reveal an astonishing record of work done, and progress made, in the short space of twenty years. Amid constant anxiety and discouragement, surrounded by open enemies and secret traitors, with robber tribes to subdue, the whole machinery of administration to create, and with very few servants and officials who could sympathise with, carry out or even understand his schemes for the development and civilisation of his country, he yet achieved a signal and brilliant success, leaving it to his successor to cement the structure which he had put together with such labour and loving care or to wreck it altogether.

After addressing a variety of remarks upon the various interests in Kabul to his guests, Habib Ullah opened a general conversation in Persian, as that tongue is the language of the Court. Habib Ullah reads and speaks English, Arabic, Hindustani and Persian, but considers the employment of English as undignified. At the beginning of the audience the Amir seemed preoccupied; but as he had just come from giving orders in connection with the welcome and entertainment of the Dane Mission, he presently talked of that event. He began by a graceful allusion to the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, and a complimentary reference to Lord Kitchener, in acknowledgment of the great interest these distinguished people took in the welfare of his state. Gradually he brought the conversation closer to his subject, likening Afghanistan to the position of a shield held at arm’s length against the enemies of India.

“If such a shield were thin as parchment,” said Habib Ullah, “a child could tear it. But if thick and strong were the shield it would resist all attempts; and it is my object to make this shield strong—so strong that it cannot be broken,” adding with parting reflection that he would discuss further the means of strengthening the shield when the Mission from India had arrived.

At this point in the interview Inayat Ullah Khan, the little prince who at a later date visited India, entered the chamber. Salaaming to his father he stood with the pages until given permission to be seated. Habib Ullah now turned the conversation to his gun accident, finding in the quick recovery that he had made under the skilful attention of Major Bird—physician to the late Viceroy and specially despatched in response to an urgent message from Kabul—a direct manifestation of the grace of Allah. In order that his guests should be in a position to inspect the injured limb the Amir rested his hand upon a table, which he himself drew up. Removing the glove the effects of the operation became apparent. At the moment that Major Bird had arrived in Kabul the hand had become very swollen. There was, also, a great accumulation of pus in the wounds, which it had been necessary to incise; while the terminal phalanx of the index finger, and part of the second phalanx of the middle finger of the left hand, had been removed. At the time of this audience Major Bird had returned to India. The wounds had healed; and the hand was perfectly healthy, although the joints were still stiff. The accident, which has made him look with greater toleration upon the wisdom of establishing in Kabul a permanent branch of the Indian medical system, had been caused through the bursting of a sixty guinea, hammerless, 12-bore, double-barrel gun of English make. The Amir, on March 28, 1904, was snipe-shooting near the village of Khudadad and had shot twenty brace, when, as he was firing, the right barrel burst, a fragment an inch and a half in length being blown out. Fortunately the palm of the hand was well beneath the barrel, the injured fingers alone resting on the side—a position which explains the escape of the other portion of the hand.

Upon the conclusion of their examination of his hand by his visitors, the reception, which had occupied two hours in duration, terminated with a concluding remark upon the murder of Mr. Fleischer, an English-speaking German subject, who had been sent out from Krupp’s, to superintend the Kabul ordnance yards and workshops. Mr. Fleischer had remained in Kabul in charge of the arsenal until, returning to India to meet his wife and family, he was murdered by the risaldar of the escort that was taking him to Lundi Khana, the limit of Afghan territory in the direction of India. Habib Ullah defended the action of the murderer on the ground that, when a Mahommedan overhears his faith abused, he must kill himself or the traducer. Mr. Fleischer had not abused the Mahommedan religion, the foul deed arising out of a jealous intrigue between Mohammed Sarwar Khan, the official in charge of the Amir’s factories, and the risaldar, but set afoot by Habib Ullah’s practice of accepting complaints against foreign workmen without permitting them to make any explanation on their own behalf. Mr. Martin himself had suffered through having punished this same official, Mohammed Sarwar Khan, for gross insolence, and accordingly had left the Amir’s service. After his departure Mohammed Sarwar Khan plotted against Mr. Fleischer, finding in the latter’s visit to India an opportunity well suited to his purpose on account of the Amir’s hostility to Europeans. Accordingly Mohammed Sarwar Khan instructed the risaldar to provoke Mr. Fleischer in such a way that complaints by this worthy pair could be lodged with Habib Ullah against him.

The actual incident began on the evening of November 6, 1904, when, near the village of Basawul, a party of Europeans, proceeding to Kabul from Peshawar, were joined at their encampment for the night by Mr. Fleischer and his caravan from Kabul. After dinner Mr. Fleischer discovered that the Europeans from India had not been provided with farrashes, whose duties it is to attend to the pitching and striking of tents in camp. As Mr. Fleischer was going in the morning to Lundi Kotal and would not require his farrashes, he sent a message to the risaldar to inform him that these men were to return to Kabul with the European party from India. The risaldar, on receipt of this message, replied that he would not be responsible for the tents which the Amir had loaned for the journey if the two farrashes were withdrawn. Mr. Fleischer then despatched his servant to tell the man to come to him, which order the risaldar refused to obey. Subsequently, later in the night, when Mr. Fleischer had gone back to his own camp, the fellow was again insubordinate. The next morning, November 7, Mr. Fleischer bade farewell to the Europeans and, proceeding on his way to India, was shot down a mile from Lundi Khana by the risaldar. News of the murder was conveyed to Dakka, the officer of that post going out to meet the risaldar. The newcomer inquired immediately whether there had been any witnesses of the crime, and, learning that it had been witnessed by two muleteers, he suggested that they should be shot too, at the same time guaranteeing to support any story that the risaldar should invent. The murderer did not attach any importance to the matter and declined the proposal, returning to Dakka as the guest of the officer of that fort.