Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

“It is right that I should tell your Highness the information which I have received which indicates that tribesmen from your Highness’s territories have joined the Mullah of Hadda, and have, in other respects, committed aggression against the British Government. Bodies of men from Jelalabad district crossed the Kabul River openly with flags flying and drums beating. After the fight at Shabkaddar they returned in the same manner, carrying their dead and helping their wounded. On the side of Khost numbers of camels stolen from my troops in Dawar have been taken across the border, and it is even reported that these camels have been ordered to be collected by Sirdar Sherindil Khan. Your Highness will no doubt recognise the propriety of directing the restoration of camels belonging to the Government of India, which have been stolen and carried into Afghan territory.

“Your Highness has said that ‘tribesmen can never join such a movement openly for fear of me. If any one has come he must have gone secretly.’ What I now ask your Highness, in accordance with those assurances of friendship which you have so readily made, is that you will publicly announce to the tribesmen through your local officers that, if they cross the border and join in disturbances against the British Government, they will incur your displeasure. The belief is entertained by many misguided persons that they will not incur your Highness’s displeasure by acting in a hostile manner against the British Government, and this belief can be dispelled if your Highness’s local officers will keep watch along the Kabul River and at other places in order to prevent your Highness’s subjects from crossing the frontier with hostile intentions, whether secretly or openly. I ask your Highness, therefore, to issue orders to this effect.

“I mention, for your Highness’s information, the following facts regarding the disturbances that have arisen among the tribes. These disturbances were wholly unprovoked and cannot be tolerated. I detailed a force of troops to punish the tribesmen concerned in the attack upon Malakand and Chakdarra. This force has visited the Upper Swat Valley and received the submission of the tribesmen there.

“The circumstances of the Afridis are these; they have been stirred up to break their engagements of many years’ standing with the British Government and to display hostility. The men who are responsible for this are Mullah Said Akbar, Aka Khel, and Mir Bashir, Malikdin Khel. Some of the Afridi tribe in the Khyber have remained true to their engagements, but they were unable to resist the attack of the rest of the tribe. The posts have been burned, and the road is now undefended and closed to the passage of kafilas. In the present state of the frontier, the carriage of valuable goods, and especially of warlike stores, must necessarily be for the time discontinued.

“I shall deal with the Afridis and any other tribe which attacks the British border or British posts in a manner to make clear the supremacy of the British Government. I am glad to learn that your Highness in Durbar characterised as false and unfounded the story concocted by designing persons that the troops assembled at Peshawar were intended for an attack on Kabul. Your Highness is well aware that, so long as your Highness on your part observes the obligations you have undertaken to the Government of India, the Government of India will honourably adhere to its promise of supporting your Highness’s Government.”

From His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and its Dependencies to the address of His Excellency the Viceroy, dated 12th Rabi-us-Sani, 1315 H., corresponding to the 10th September 1897.

(After compliments.)

“I have received your Excellency’s friendly letter, dated the 30th August 1897, and understood the contents.

“As regards the report which your Excellency had received to the effect that my subjects had openly collected together and, forming themselves into separate bands, with flags flying and drums beating, crossed the Kabul River and joined Mullah Hadda’s party; that after the fight at Shabkaddar they returned to their places carrying their dead and helping their wounded; and as to your Excellency asking me to order my local officers to prevent my subjects from crossing the frontier and joining Mullah Hadda with hostile intentions against the British Government, and even to appoint guards along the Kabul River and at other places, to prevent them from crossing, my dear friend, after your Excellency wrote to me, such a thing has not occurred, viz., that Afghan subjects openly collected in such bands and crossed the frontier with flags flying. The true state of affairs has been what I have communicated to your Excellency in my former letter, i.e., that Mullah Najm-ud-din, an inhabitant of Jarobi, having spread the net of his cunning, has made numerous people from the different Afghan tribes his disciples, and they obey his orders to the utmost extent. During these times, when he became the source of mischief and disturbances, he has sent letters in every direction, and invites all people to join him. I had secured one of his letters, which I sent for your Excellency’s perusal, and which your Excellency must have received some time ago.

“I have ordered the local officers to keep watch on Afghan subjects to the best of their ability, and prevent them from joining Mullah Hadda. Thus the inhabitants of Lamkan (Laughman) had collected a large number of people, numbering about 30,000 men, and prepared flags; but on the officers receiving my orders, they used their best endeavours and succeeded in dispersing them; and they all returned to their homes. No doubt the news-writers on the frontier must have communicated this report to your Excellency.