On the 23rd of August of last year Afghanistan celebrated, as usual, the anniversary of her independence by brilliant festivities in the suburbs of Kabul. L’Illustration reproduced a photograph, brought by air, of the new Sovereign, the Emir Habib-Ullah, dressed in national costume and surrounded by members of his government.

Exactly eighty-six years before, the same Review had reproduced on its first page the portrait of an Englishwoman who had witnessed the barbarous revolt at Kabul and who had been imprisoned by Akbar-Khan for many long months.

Time rolls on, and history repeats itself. To-day, as yesterday, Afghanistan stands out as the country pre-eminently noted for riots and civil wars. Hardly are the last speeches ended, the last dances over than the news of the march on Kabul led by the rebel general Nadir-Khan, and the probable assassination of Habib-Ullah is blazoned abroad.