At the Court of the Amîr: A Narrative

by John Alfred Gray

In the tenth century was the invasion by Tartar hordes headed by the Turk Sabaktakin, who established himself in southern Afghanistan, making Ghuzni his capital.

He and his son, Mahmûd of Ghuzni, founded a dynasty in Afghanistan. They were recent converts to Islam, and destroying the then dominant religion of the country, Buddhism, shrouded under the cloak of Mahomed the strains of different nations that existed in the country. This wild mixed race, called collectively Afghan, was at all times turbulent and difficult to govern, and the tribes fought against each other without the least scruple. Their present unsettled condition, therefore, can be somewhat better understood when we consider that it has existed, and in a far greater degree, from remote ages.

It would be tedious merely to enumerate the multitudinous divisions into which the Afghan nation is divided, and I have grouped many important tribes under the comprehensive term Border Afghans. These, as the name implies, occupy the mountains on the Indian frontier, and it is they who, by their raidings, thievings, and turbulence, cause so much trouble to the Government of India.

From their position, it has been possible for investigators among the Indian Frontier Officials to study the customs, laws, and descent of these tribes more closely than those of the Afghans occupying the interior of the country.

Of the latter, the Durani and the Ghilzai tribes are, from their numerical superiority, the more important. In addition, the Durani tribe has, from two of its branches, given to the country its Afghan Kings.

It was in the last century, 1747, that Ahmad Khan, of the Suddozai division of the Duranis, created himself Ahmad Shah and founded a dynasty. It occurred in the following manner. Nadir Shah, a Turkoman robber chief, invaded Persia, driving thence the Afghans, who had held the country for some six or seven years. He placed himself on the throne, and then proceeded to annex Afghanistan, seizing first Herat, and after a nearly two years’ siege Kandahar, and finally Kabul.

He ruled with vigour and generosity, and in such a manner that he completely won the hearts of the people, and was able to bring to the assistance of his own troops large contingents of Afghan cavalry recruited especially among the Duranis and the Ghilzais. The chiefs of the tribes commanded the troops raised from their tribesmen. These men accompanied the Turk Warrior in all his expeditions, sharing his glory and his success. So much help did they give him that he openly preferred them to his own troops, causing, thereby, great jealousy among the Persian soldiers. Finally, when in 1747, Nadir was assassinated, the Persians fell upon the Afghans with such fury that the latter, greatly outnumbered, sought safety in flight. On their return to their native country, the nobles of the Durani and Ghilzai tribes met together to decide upon the best means of organizing a Government for Afghanistan. Any union with the Persians was declared henceforth impossible, and they determined to elect a chief from among themselves. After much discussion, Ahmad Khan, the chief of the Suddozai Duranis, was elected King of the nation, his only formidable rival, the chief of the Barakzai Duranis, withdrawing in his favour. Ahmad Khan was crowned in the Mosque at Kandahar in 1747, taking the title of Shah. In the midst of the festivities there arrived a convoy in Kandahar, bearing from the Punjab and Scinde the tribute due to Nadir Shah. Ahmad Shah at once seized the convoy, which was of extreme value, and wisely consolidated his power by distributing the contents liberally among the soldiers, officers, and nobles of his newly-founded kingdom.

Downfall of the Empire imminent.

This was the commencement of the Durani dynasty of Afghan Kings, and Ahmad, by frequent invasions, extended his Empire from Mashad in Persia to Lahore in India. He reigned twenty-six years, and was succeeded by his son, Timûr Shah, a weak man, who, moving the seat of Government from Kandahar to Kabul, employed his time, not in strengthening and consolidating his father’s Empire, but in gratifying his senses. The result was what might have been anticipated: Law became a dead letter; no longer was any road safe from highway robbery; disorder and anarchy once more spread over the country, and the downfall of the Empire was imminent. The Persian provinces were lost; then followed the Punjab, Scinde, and Beluchistan.

At the death of Timûr, in 1793, matters became even worse, for his many sons, who were ruling singly or jointly over different provinces, plotted and counterplotted against one another in the endeavour to obtain the throne. Three of the sons came to the front. Zaman Shah, who held the throne for a brief period; Shujah-ul-Mulk, his full brother, who held Kandahar and plotted to obtain Kabul; and Mahmûd, who ruled in Herat as an independent Prince, and declared himself Shah of Afghanistan. At this time the most powerful and influential of all the Sirdars was Paînda Khan, chief of the Barakzai Duranis, and son of the man who withdrew his pretensions to the Afghan throne in favour of Ahmad Shah.