The titles of the officers of the army are, Super Salah or Commander-in-Chief, Naib Salah, his deputy, Jinrael (general), Kernael (colonel), Kameedand (commandant), Kaftan (captain), Subadar (lieutenant of foot), Risaldar (lieutenant of horse), Havildar (sergeant of foot), Duffedar (sergeant of horse). The chief officers of the army are selected from the Amir’s family, or from among his favourites, and there is no promotion by grades, but only by favouritism. The late Amir, when forming a regiment, would have the men drawn up in front of him, and then, by simply judging the character of those he thought suitable, would select from among them those who were to be the officers.
There are several bands, some with string and some with wind instruments, and the music the brass bands bring forth is something to be remembered, for all the instruments seem to keep their own time, and each man apparently plays a tune of his own, and does his best to make what he plays over heard above the others. The result is rather staggering when they are close to one. There is a bagpipe band, too, and snatches of their music would make it appear that they try to play Scotch airs; and the men of this band imitate the Highland dress, the skirt being represented by a check print shirt, which hangs below the tunic and outside the trousers, which latter are often dirty white calico ones. This band is a tribute to the fighting qualities of the Highlanders, whom the Afghans look upon as superior to all others, and say they are real devils.
I was told by one man that during the fighting on the Sher Darwaza heights by the city of Kabul, one day the English had to retire, and he saw among the last to go one of the Highlanders running leisurely back carrying his rifle under his arm, with the muzzle pointing behind, and, as he ran, slipping cartridges into the breach, and firing back at the enemy. The man said he could see that the Highlander’s heart was not in his running away. On this day’s fighting many of the citizens turned out to take part in it, and the man who told me the foregoing was one of them.
The Afghans appear to judge music by the volume of sound created, for on one of the festivals, when I went with some others to salaam the Queen-Sultana, we were entertained in an open pavilion in the garden, and three bands were sent to play to us. They did so, stationing themselves on three sides of the pavilion and loudly playing different things at once, and it was rather trying, for they don’t get tired soon, but the people round about seemed to think it quite all right.
The Afghan Army, regarded as a fighting machine matched against civilized troops, could not be considered efficient. The Afghan, as a soldier, has many good qualities; he can live for days on a few handfuls of grain, and endure considerable fatigue at the same time; he can sleep in the open on the coldest night, wrapped in his sheepskin, and do no more than he is accustomed to; over mountains he is untiring; and he is plucky and would fight well, provided he had confidence in his officers. He also appreciates pluck, and Lieutenant Hamilton, who was with Cavagnari, and was one of those massacred, is to this day spoken of as the brave Feringhee. His own officers, however, are no better than himself in their knowledge of the art of war, and being chosen mostly from among the men, they have little authority as officers, and the influence of those who are looked up to by the men is entirely due to their own individuality. There is very little discipline, and unless an officer exerts his personality to make the men carry out his orders, he will find that they take very little notice of them, or him; for the soldiers are quick to judge who is their master, and leniency or consideration is looked upon by them as one of two things—fear of themselves, or the act of a fool.
None of the generals have any knowledge of modern warfare, for their experience has been confined to the wild tribes of those countries brought under the rule of the Afghans of late years, and of those who fought against the English during the last war there are few, if any, living. When they talk of fighting any foreign power, they rely on the number of soldiers and hillmen that the preaching of the Jihad will influence to fight for their country; and another thing they look upon as advantageous to themselves is that the country is so broken up and mountainous, it would offer considerable difficulty to the effective and rapid movement of invading troops, and it is this which forms one of the Amir’s chief objections to the introduction of railways in his country. The Afghans rarely care to risk a pitched battle, and are besides more accustomed to guerilla warfare, and in the event of invasion it is the latter method of fighting which would, no doubt, be adopted, and among the mountain passes there are places where a few determined men, properly armed, could keep back an army. For an invading army there would be great difficulty in getting heavy artillery moved about in most parts of the country, and mule batteries would be required; but in the plains around Kabul, Jelalabad, and Kandahar, big guns would be wanted, at least equal in range to the Afghan guns, and to get these to the Kabul plains, except by two roundabout routes, would be very difficult.
The Afghan authorities have now more confidence in the efficiency of their army, and consider it quite different and superior to what it was when Lord Roberts was there, and it is possible, in the event of another war with them, that they would offer battle in force, but if the day went against them, the rest of the fighting would probably be of the guerilla sort, to which they are more accustomed, unless they considerably outnumbered the enemy at any time. In their own fighting, one against the other, there is generally one pitched battle, and whosoever is routed runs away and fights no more; they say themselves, that a defeated army runs, and does not stop running, under three days.
In time of war women carry supplies to the men, and then the laws of “purdah” are suspended, and being a case of necessity, they are allowed to show their faces without shame. It is well known that the women, during the wars with the English, used to go out at night after a battle, and mutilate the bodies of the dead, and kill the wounded and dying. Many also took part in the fighting. As an illustration of one side of the Afghan character, I may mention an incident told me by a man, who belonged to the Kandahar district. His cousin owned a house some miles out of Kandahar (I have mentioned that houses are protected by high walls), and after one of the battles fought by the English against the tribes about, there were many stragglers following the main army back towards Kandahar. One day his cousin was told by one of his men that an Englishman was outside the walls shouting, and on going to the roof, whence he could look over the wall, he saw a Highlander carrying a rifle, who called out to give him some food. The cousin ran back to his room, and brought out a rifle, and climbing up to the roof again, knelt behind the wall, and aiming carefully at the soldier, fired. The man dropped, but was not killed, as a movement could now and then be observed, and the cousin feared to go out to get the rifle, for which he had shot him; so they kept watch for two days before it was decided that life must be extinct, and during that time the soldier called often and piteously for water, but no one went near, fearing vengeance as long as there was life left in him.