Photo, Olufsen
AFGHAN POST AT KALA PANJA
On the left bank of the stream the Afghan authorities maintain posts at Kala Panja, which is opposite Langar Kisht, Kala Bar Panja, which confronts Charog, and Ishkashim. No works of special importance have been constructed to observe Kala Wamar and Kala Wanj, the work at Kala Bar Panja being the central Afghan position on the Upper Oxus. As a fort it compares not unfavourably with the Russian one at Charog; in point of size it is larger than the original Russian structure there. It is in the form of a square; the walls, constructed of clay and stone, are 200 yards in length, about 12 inches thick and 15 to 20 feet in height. It has capacity for about 1000 men and, along one wall, provision for a small force of cavalry.
Possession of these works did not quite equalise the situation and within the last few months many changes have taken place in the Eastern, Northern and Western commands, the raising of 20,000 recruits having been sanctioned by the Amir for the Eastern and Western divisions at the request of the commanding officers. Leading chiefs bringing 1000 men to the colours were to receive the rank of regimental commanders; those who raised 100 men would become company officers. It was further promised that the pay of these new regiments would be issued monthly. The strengthening process has been also applied to the Home or Central command, 10,000 men having been raised in the Shinwari district and sworn in by the Governor of Jelalabad; while enlistment among the Sufi tribal levies has been started for the Kabul garrison. Further, the Governors of Maimana and Faizabad were instructed to entrench their cities, to throw up the necessary watch towers and to place all approaches in a condition of defence. Two new forts were located on the Oxus at Kala Panja and Ishkashim in Wakhan, a third at Boharac and a fourth at Faizabad.
These fresh works possess nominal accommodation for 1000 men, although there is ample space for double or even treble this number. Built in the form of a square, the walls are 6 feet thick at the top and 18 feet at the base. Artillery emplacements have been prepared in the watch towers at each corner and a shooting-gallery runs round the defences a few feet below their parapet. Quarters have been placed along three walls, each wall taking twenty houses, the fourth wall holding the stable, transport and commissariat arrangements. Pathan regiments from Faizabad were detailed to these positions and also to the support of the Badakshan-Wakhan border; new regiments, fashioned from the reinforcements which had been despatched to Faizabad, taking their place. The normal strength of the Eastern command is represented by seven regiments of Pathan infantry, four squadrons of cavalry and five batteries.
Similarly there has been much activity in the Northern command, the Governor of Afghan Turkestan, Sirdar Ghulam Ali Khan a son of Abdur Rahman, having completed his development of the scheme of defences at Dehdadi which the late Amir created. That stronghold has now been incorporated with Takht-a-Pul, which lies between Mazar-i-Sharif and Balkh and where an important fortified cantonment has been established, possessing a permanent strength of several thousand men. Habib Ullah has full confidence in his brother Ghulam Ali Khan and, in view of the delays which occur in the passage of supplies from the Kabul arsenals to the Herat and Turkestan garrisons, the Amir has sanctioned a proposal to construct in Herat and Takht-a-Pul, small-arms ordnance works, tanning-yards and boot factories, so that these two important commands may be independent of Kabul for these elemental accessories to their efficiency. Powers of control over these projects have been invested in Ghulam Ali Khan, who has appointed an assistant to the Herat branch of the undertaking.
A WATER-SELLER.
[11] “England and Russia in the East.” Rawlinson.