Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

Photo, Olufsen

KASI KHODA DA OF ISHKASHIM

The prevailing climatic conditions of Afghanistan are dryness combined with great extremes of temperature. Snow lies on the ground for three months during the year in the Kabul and Ghazni districts, while many of the peaks from the Hindu Kush to Kelat rise above the snow-line. But so much depends on elevation that Jelalabad, 2000 feet above the sea, is scarcely colder than India, while the winters on the neighbouring Kohistan uplands are as severe as those of Russia. The coldest month of the year is February, the mean minimum being 17° F. and the maximum 38° in the northern districts. The greatest cold is accompanied by an extreme lowness of temperature; during the continuation of the cold wave, which may remain for several days, the temperature varies from a mean of 12° below zero to a maximum of 17° below freezing-point. In Kabul, where the snow lies upon the ground for three months, the thermometer falls to 3° below zero and in Ghazni it sinks to 10° below zero, with a daily maximum rise of 5°. The summer heat, on the other hand, is everywhere high, especially in the Oxus region where a shade maximum of 110° to 120° is usual. At Kabul (6500 feet) the glass rises to 90° and 100° in the shade, and in Kandahar to 110°. None the less, southern Afghanistan is, on the whole, decidedly more salubrious than the fever-stricken lowland districts of Afghan Turkestan.

If such is an outline of the physical and climatic conditions of Afghanistan, the ethnographic divisions no less require mention. In spite of the disappearance of the khanates and the incorporation of their territories with Kabul, strong differences of race still mark out the several peoples.

The subjoined table comprises the different tribes classified according to their geographical distribution:[30]

Aryans.	Galcha Branch	Wakhis	Hindu Kush (northern slopes).
		Badakhshis
		Swatis	Hindu Kush (southern slopes).
		Siah-Posh Kafirs
		Safis
		Chagnans
		Kohistanis	Hills north of Kabul.
	Iranic Branch	Afghans	Kabul; Suliman Mountains; Kandahar; Helmund basin; Herat.
		Tajiks	Herat; most towns and settled districts.
		Seistanis	Lower Helmund. Hamun.
	Indic Branch	Hindkis	Most large towns.
Mongol-Tatars.	Mongol Branch	Hazaras	Northern highlands between Bamian and Herat.
		Aimaks
	Turki Branch	Uzbegs	Afghan Turkestan.
		Turcomans	Herat, Maimana and Andkhui.
		Kizil Bashis	Kabul chiefly.

The Afghans claim to be Ben-i-Israel, but since Ahmed Shah Durani announced the independence of his state the Afghans of Afghanistan have styled themselves Durani. They are settled principally in the Kandahar country, extending into Seistan and to the borders of the Herat valley. Eastward they spread across the Afghan border into the Toba highlands north of the Khojak, where they are represented by Achakzai and Sadozai clans. They exist in the Kabul districts as Barakzai (the Amir’s clan), and as Mahmundzai (Mohmands) and Yusufzai. They occupy the hills north of the Kabul river, Bajaor, Swat, Buner and part of the Peshawar plains.

After the Afghans the dominant people are the Pukhtun or Pathans, represented by a variety of tribes, many of whom are recognised as being of Indian origin. They inhabit the hilly regions along the immediate British frontier. The Afridi Jowaki and Orakzai clans hold the highlands immediately south of the Khyber and Peshawar, the Turis of the Kurram, the Dawaris of Tochi and the Waziris of Waziristan filling up the intervening Pathan hills north of the Gomul. In the Kohat district the Khattak and Bangash clans are Pathan so that Pathans are found on both sides of the border.

The Ghilzai is reckoned as a Pathan, and he is also connected with the Afghan. Nevertheless his origin is distinct; he claims only ties of faith and affinity of language with other Afghan peoples. The Ghilzai rank collectively as second to none in military strength and in commercial enterprise; further their chiefs take a leading part in the politics of the country, possessing much influence at Kabul. They are a fine, manly race of people, and it is from some of their most influential clans (Suliman Khel, Nasir Khel, Kharotis, etc.) that the main body of Povindah merchants is derived. These frontier commercial travellers trade between Ghazni and the plains of India, bringing down their heavily-laden kafilas at the commencement of the cold weather and retiring again to the hills ere the summer heat sets in. During the winter months thousands of them circulate through the farthest districts of the peninsula, where it not infrequently happens that they prove to be troublesome, if not dangerous, visitors.