Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

(5) Her Britannic Majesty’s Government engage that the territory lying within the British sphere of influence between the Hindu Kush, and the line running from the east end of Lake Victoria to the Chinese frontier, shall form part of the territory of the Amir of Afghanistan, that it shall not be annexed to Great Britain, and that no military posts or forts shall be established in it.

The execution of this agreement is contingent upon the evacuation by the Amir of Afghanistan of all the territories now occupied by his Highness on the right bank of the Panjah, and on the evacuation by the Amir of Bokhara of the portion of Darwaz which lies to the south of the Oxus, in regard to which her Britannic Majesty’s Government, and the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, have agreed to use their influence respectively with the two Amirs.

Agreement for laying down the Afghan Boundary from the Hindu Kush Range to Nawa Kotal; and confirmed by his Highness the Amir of Afghanistan on December 19, 1895.

Agreement dated Camp Nashagam, April 9, 1895 = 13th Shawal, 1312

Forasmuch as, under Article (4) of the Convention concluded at Kabul on November 12, 1893, between his Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and Sir Mortimer Durand on behalf of the Government of India, we the undersigned have been appointed by our respective Governments for the purpose of demarcating in concert the frontier of his Highness the Amir’s dominions on the side of India in this neighbourhood of Chitrar and Bajaur, it is hereby agreed as follows:

(1) That on the western side of the Kunar River, this frontier will be the further or eastern watershed of the stream which in the idiom of Afghans is notorious and known as the Landai Sin pertaining to the limits of Kafiristan, and which in the survey map is also written by the name of Bashgal, so that all the country of which the drainage falls into the Kunar River by means of this stream belongs, and will belong, to Afghanistan, and the eastern drainage of this watershed, which does not fall into the Landai Sin stream, pertains to Chitrar.

(2) That on the eastern side of the Kunar River, from the river bank up to the crest of the main range which forms the watershed between the Kunar River and the country (lit. direction) of Barawal and Bajaur, this frontier follows the southern watershed of the Arnawai stream, which falls into the Kunar River close to the village of Arnawai, leaving to Chitrar all the country of which the drainage falls into the Kunar River, by means of this stream, while the southern drainage of this last-mentioned watershed, which does not fall into the Arnawai stream, pertains to Afghanistan.

(3) That this frontier line, on reaching the crest of the main range, which in this neighbourhood forms the watershed between the Kunar River and the country (lit. direction) of Barawal and Bajaur, turns southward along this watershed, which it follows as far as a point in the neighbourhood of the Nawa Kotal, leaving all the country draining into the Kunar River within the limits of Afghanistan, and all the country draining towards Barawal and Bajaur outside the limits of Afghanistan; but beyond the aforesaid point in the neighbourhood of the Nawa Kotal the frontier has not at present been demarcated.

(4) That on both sides of the Kunar River this frontier, as described in the three preceding articles, for the most part requires no artificial demarcation, because it is a natural boundary following the crests of mountain ranges; but since, at present, inspection in situ is impossible, when the ground is examined on the spot, it is probable that in the places where these mountain ranges abut on the Kunar River from either side, demarcation by pillars for a short distance from the water’s edge on both sides of the river will be found desirable for the purpose of separating the boundary of Afghanistan from Arnawai pertaining to Chitrar and the limits of the Kafir country (lit. Kafiristan) of the Landai Sin from Chitrar. In that case these pillars will be erected along the line of the watershed described in the first and second articles of the present agreement, subject to any slight divergencies from this line which may be necessary to protect the local rights of villages adjoining the frontier.

(5) That the frontier pillars, wherever considered desirable, will be erected hereafter by an officer of the Government of India and an officer of his Highness the Amir acting in concert.