A THESIS entitled THE CONSOLIDATION OE THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY IE AFGHANISTAN UNDER AMIR 1 ABE AL-RAHMA1M . 1880 - 1896 presented by M. HASAN KAKAR for the degree of MASTER OE PHILOSOPHY in the UNIVERSITY OP LONDON Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies 5 London, W.C.l, June, 1968o ProQuest Number: 10752697 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10752697 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Contents Page Abstract 1 A cknowle dgement iii Index to Abbreviations iv A note on transliteration v Index to Maps vi Chapter 1 - Introduction, I8 6 3 - 1880 1 The Ac ces sio n of ’ Abd al -Ra hma nChapter 2 The Accession of ’ Abd al-RahmanChapter 27 Chapter 3 The Reunification of Afghanistan, 1880 - 8 4 0 '1% Chapter 4 The Pacification of Eastern Afghanistan 107 Chapter 5 The G-reat G-hilzay Rising and its Suppression 149 Chapter 6 Struggle with Sardar Mohammad Ishaq Khan 180 Chapter 7 The Pacification of the Hazaras 205 Chapter 8 The Conquest of Kafiristan 234 Conclusion and Consideration of the Sources 271 Bibliography 283 i Abstract The subject of this thesis is the establishment and consolidation of the power of Amir ’Abd al-Rahman in Afghanistan between 1880 and 189*5. ’Abd al-Rahman reappeared in Afghanistan from exile in Russian Turkistan at a critical time when the British were considering how to establish a government satisfactory to their interest, in Kabul. ’Abd al-Rahman showed skill in obtaining both the support of anti-British groups (who were committed to the former ruling family) and the British themselves. At first, he obtained only the reduced state of Kabul, the British being determined to retain control of the province of Kandahar. Later, following the defeat of their army in Kandahar, the British reversed their former policy and evacuated Kandahar which passed to fAbd al-Rahman* Subsequently, ’Abd al-Rahman succeeded in expelling Mohammad Ayub (a brother of the former Amir) from Herat and thus establishing his rule over the whole of Afghanistan, (chapters 2 and 3)* ’Abd al-Rahman then extended and consolidated his rule over the provinces at the expense of the authority of the tribal elders and dynastic governors. This led to conflict between him and the elders, who aroused the tribes against him. The several disturbances which ensued are described. They were all ultimately suppressed (chapters 4, 5 and 6). Further, the Amir brought under control the territories of the Hazarajat and Kafiristan (chapters 7 and 8). At the same time, the Government of India contained the extension 11 of the Amir’s authority into the territories "beyond the frontiers which the Government of India was largely instrumental in establishing for Afghanistan during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman. iii Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. M. 35. Yapp for his advice and suggestions during the writing of this thesiso iv Abbreviations (Published and unpublished documents) BCA Biographical Accounts of Chiefs, Sardars and others of Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1888. CD — Chitral Agency Diary FTNK Frontiers and Overseas Expeditions, Tribes North of the Kabul River, Vol. 1, Calcutta, 1907* GAB ~ Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part 1, Badaklishan, 1914. GAH - Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part 3? Herat, 1910. GAK - Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part 4, Kabul, 1910. GAKand. - Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part Kandahar, 1908. GAT — Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Part 2, Afghan Turkistan, 1912. GD - Gilgit Agency Diary GOTFP — Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series, North-West Frontier Province, Calcutta, 1908. HD — Herat Diary IGA — Imperial Gazetteer of India, Afghanistan and Nepal, Calcutta, 1908. Kand o D . — Kandahar Diary KD Kabul Agency Diary MRA Military Report on Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1906. PI) - Peshawar Agency Diary PNEA — Papers relating to Afghanistan, Narrative of Events in Afghanistan, 1878-80, 1880. PSLI - Political and Secret Letters and Enclosures Received from India. V A note on transliteration Because of typing difficulties, and considering the * fact that this was a thesis in history and not in language, I abandoned my original system of transliteration which employed a different form for each letter. In the system now used. £ has been recorded by the sign of (’ ) . The transliteration of Persian and Pashto words follow conventional system but letters peculiar to Pashto are transliterated as follows d 3* t ch n - sh r Pashto names in the singular have been spelt as they are pronounced in Pashto but anglicised in the plural. Thus we have Afriday, G-hilzay and Safay, not Afridi, G-hilzai and Safi, as they are generally written. Persian, Pashto and ’Arabic words have normally been underlined, but such words as amir, khan, sardar and mulla have been considered to be anglicised as they are regarded as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. vi Maps Page The Eastern Province . ...» ........ 148 The Grhilzay Land ■ . • . .. * . 179 Afghan Turkistan . , • . * *, 0 « 204 The Hazara^ a.t « « « •«« • » « •«« <> <> o 23p Kafiristan ... • , „ , . „ ......... 210 Chapter 1 Introduction 1865-1880 Afghanistan (the land of the Afghans), “before 1880, was known to outsiders as Afghanistan hut its own inhabi- tants distinguished it by two appelations - Khurasan (Zabulistan) and Kabul (Kabulistan), the former including the territories to the north-west of the massive range of the Hindu Kush up to Persia, and the latter including the territories to the south of the Hindu Kush up to the Indus 1 river. Its boundaries were not defined. They were demographic rather than territorial. Hence their fluctu­ ations in accordance with the extent of the power of the rulers of the central government in Kabul over the outlying districts. In 1871, the outlying districts in the south and east (nominally subject to the central government) were the Chitral, the land of the Yusufzays, of the Afridays, of the Waziris, and of the Kakars. Baluchistan bordered it in the extreme south. To the west, it was bounded by Persia. The territory of Sistan was included in Afghanistan, but this claim was disputed by Persia. To the north-west, Afghanistan was bounded by the Turcoman country. The Oxus (from the Haji Salih to the Pamirs) formed its northern boundary with Bokhara. The country was divided into the provinces of Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Balkh (Afghan-furkistan). 1 Bellew, II. quoted by MacGregor, C. M., Central Asia, pt 2. A contribution towards the better knowledge of the tonography, ethnology, resources and history of Afghanistan. Calcutta, 1871, 7- According to MacGregor, the Afghans called their country Wilayat. Ibid. Since wilayat means a province, the wilayat of MacG-regor is probably the wilayat of Kabul. 2 MacGregor, 5* 2 This extensive area was inhabited by various ethnic groups whose total number was estimated to lie between four and a half and six millions. The Pashtuns (also called the Afghans), comprising the tribes of Durranis, G-hilzays, Yusufzays, Khugianays, Kakars, Shinwarays, Mohmands, Waziris, Mangals, Orakzays and others, were equal in number to the rest of the population who were the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Qizilbashes, Char Aimaq, Kafirs and others. The inhabitants were divided among themselves linguistically and ethnically. The Pashtuns spoke the Pashto language, while the rest, except for the Uzbeks who spoke the Turki language and the Kafirs, who spoke different languages, spoke Persian. The common bond among the majority of the population was the religion of Islam but this was weakened by the existence of the two sects of Sunnism and Shi’ism. Kafirs, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs were the non-Muslim minorities. A small portion of the population lived in towns, among them about 140,700 in Kabul (1876), 31,000 in Kandahar (1880), 17,000 in Herat (1885) and 3,000 families in Mazar (1906). The urban population was heavily dependent for its provisions on the neighbouring countryside, whereas the rural population was self-sufficient. Military control of the towns did not necessarily imply control over the country. The Pashtuns, as the ruling nation, considered 3 IG-IA (1908), 23 - 4,500,000 MacG-regor (1871), 32 - 4,901,000 MRA (1906), 111 - 6,100,000 Amir *Abd al-Rahman’s firman, Mar 1883, PSLI, 35, 930 - 13,000,000 The last figures are no doubt too high. 3 the profession of artisan degrading.^ But like the Tajiks they were also engaged in trade. The artisans who were 5 engaged in various professions were mainly the ICahulis and Tajiks. Village life was very common as all the tribes in general and the Tajiks and the Kafirs in particular lived in the villages. Of all the tribes, the Tajiks alone were non-tribal agriculturists. Some parts of other tribes in general, and the Char Aimaq in particular, were pastoral and nomadic, moving in the short distances between their summer and winter quarters. The Ghilzay tribe, as a whole, was in a transitory state from pastoral to agricultural life. Its migratory sections (the Powindas) made regular movements from the central highlands of Afghanistan in the summer to India in the winter. Before 1880, there was no legal restriction on the movements of people, but such movements among the settled population were infrequent. The roads were not usually wide enough for wheeled traffic and bridges over rivers did not exist, although there were ferries on some rivers.