Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
The aim of this article is to give an account of the considerations which led Amīr ‘Abd al-Rahmān Khān (1880–1901) to encourage Pashtūn migration to northern Afghanistan, the difficulties met in the execution of this policy, and the reasons for its final success. It is hoped that this case study will throw light on some of the domestic problems which faced the Iron Amīr and demonstrate a new aspect of his role in the ‘Great Game’ between Russia and Britain.
1 The article is based primarily on the diaries and news-letters of the British news-writers in Afghanistan found in the series L/P & S/7 (Political and Secret Department) in the India Office Library, London. (Crown copyright material is quoted by kind permission of the Controller of HMSO.) These records must be used with caution, but can often be checked against the major Afghan source for the period, Hazāra, Mullā Faiz Muhammad, Sarāj al-tawārīkh, iii, Kabul, 1333/1914–1915Google Scholar. The contemporary sources have sometimes been supplemented by oral traditions collected by Richard Tapper and myself during the course of anthropological field-work in northern Afghanistan in 1970–1. In addition, Kakar's, M. H. book Afghanistan, Kabul, 1971Google Scholar, the only substantial study of ‘Abd al-Rahmān's domestic policies, has been of considerable use.
My thanks are due to Muhammad Hasan Kakar, Habibullah Pashtoonzoy, Muhammad Musa Pashtun-Marufi, Professor Adrian Mayer, and Dr. Malcolm Yapp for their comments on earlier drafts of this article; I am especially indebted to Richard Tapper for supplying references in the Sarāj al-tawārīkh.
2 Research among Pashtūns based in these provinces was conducted as part of a Social Science Research Council project (1970–2).
3 McChesney, R. D., ‘The economic reforms of Amir Abdul Rahman Khan’, Afghanistan, xxi, 3, 1968, 19–20Google Scholar. His account of the migration is based on a single source, Faiz Muhammad, op. cit. Pashtūns in the north-west are mentioned briefly in the following: Humlum, J., La géographic de I'Afghanistan, Copenhague, 1959Google Scholar; Schurmann, H. F., The Mongols of Afghanistan's,-Graven-hage, 1962Google Scholar; Bruk, S. I., Karta narodov peredney Azii, Moscow, 1960Google Scholar; however, the major Soviet ethnography, Kislyakov, N. A. and Pershits, A. I., Narody peredney Azii, Moscow, 1957, omits all reference to themGoogle Scholar.
4 Gazetteer of Afghanistan, in (Herat), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1910, 14Google Scholar.
5 Yate, C. E., Northern Afghanistan, London, 1888, 134–5Google Scholar; cf. the earlier accounts of Grodekoff, N. I., ‘Itinéraire dans le Turkistan Afghan’, Bull, de la Société de Géographie, Sér. vi. xx, 1880, 137–8Google Scholar, and Vambéry, A., Travels in Central Asia, London, 1864, 237, 254–5Google Scholar.
6 Yate, C. E., op. cit, 254Google Scholar.
7 ‘Gazetteer of Afghanistan, II (Afghan Turkestan), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1907, p. ivGoogle Scholar.
8 ‘Abd al-Rahmān to Ripon, 18 October 1882, LPS/7/35, 363; Ripon to ‘Abd al-Rahmān, 16 June 1883, LPS/7/37, 137.
9 ‘Abd al-Rahmān to Ripon, 26 April 1883, LPS/7/37, 127; Ripon to ‘Abd al-Rahmān, 16 June 1883, LPS/7/37, 137. See also Adamee, L. W., Afghanistan. 1900–1923, Berkeley 1967, 18–19, 174–6Google Scholar, and Ghose, D. K., England and Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1960, 142, 174–5Google Scholar.
10 Pashtū-speakers commonly call themselves ‘Pashtūn’, while speakers of other languages in Afghanistan almost always identify them as ‘Afghan’. Although the latter is officially promoted as a term of reference for all subjects of the Afghan kingdom, in the north it is often used for ‘Pashtūn’ even by Durrāni Pashtūn tribesmen themselves, particularly when speaking Persian. For the sake of clarity, I use ‘Pashtūn’in this article to refer to Pashtū-speakers, though in some quoted passages ‘Afghan’is used with the same meaning.
11 Waterfield to Grant, 6 February 1882, LPS/7/31, 993.
12 ‘Herat news-letter’(HNL), 19 April 1882, LPS/7/32, 971.
13 The ‘Aimāq’or ‘Chahar Aimāq’ tribes form a substantial portion of the Persian-speaking population of the Harat area. The question as to which tribes are included under this name is unresolved and I shall follow Maitland's usage both because his report on the Chahār Aimāq was contemporary with the period covered in this article and because his comments are borne out in the other sources of the period. He writes that the term Chahār Aimāq ‘appears to be one of some antiquity, and various tribes have at one time or another been included in the Chahar Aimak. At the present moment, however, there is no doubt the following are under-stood to be the Chahar Aimak:—1. Jamshidis, 2. Suni Hazaras of Kala Nao, 3. Firozkohis, 4. Taimanis’ (Maitland, P. J., ‘Report on the Chahar Aimak’, compiled in 1891, in Gazetteer of Afghanistan, iii, fourth ed., 28 ff.)Google Scholar; cf. Schurmann, , op. cit., 50–1Google Scholar, and K. Ferdinand's review-article of this book, ‘Ethnographical notes on Aimâq, Chahâr, Hazâra, and Moghôl', Acta Orientalia, xxviii, 1–2, 1964, 179–80Google Scholar.
14 HNL, 25 January 1883, LPS/7/35, 831.
15 HNL, 22 May 1883, LPS/7/37, 15.
16 There are many reports concerning the settlement scheme during 1883. The best summaries of events are found in HNL, 25 March 1883, LPS/7/36, 881; HNL, 9 April 1883, LPS/7/36, 1137; ‘Memorandum of trans-frontier intelligence’ (MTFI), July 1883, LPS/7/37, 535; HNL, 4 August 1883, LPS/7/37, 1283; HNL, 3 October 1883, LPS/7/38, 627; HNL, 22 July 1883, LPS/7/38, 687; MTFI, December 1883, LPS/7/39, 141. Similar reports continue especially in the ‘Herat news-letter’ throughout 1884. Cf. Muhammad, Faiz, op. cit., 421 ffGoogle Scholar.
17 Gregorian, V., The emergence of modern Afghanistan, Stanford, Calif., 1969, pp. 12, 156, n.Google Scholar, but cf. Adamec, L. W., op. cit., 16Google Scholar.
18 Ridgeway, J. W., ‘Note on the military situation at Panjdeh’, 16 03 1885, LPS/7/44, 315Google Scholar.
19 See ‘Diary of events at Panjdeh from 23 March 1885 to 29 March 1885’, LPS/7/44, 313; D. K. Ghose, op. cit., ch. vi; Jennings, M. A., Anglo-Russian relations concerning Afghanistan, 1882–6; the delimitation of the north-west frontier of Afghanistan, unpublished M.A. thesis, University of London, 1953, 65 ffGoogle Scholar.
20 Yate, C. E., op. cit., 187–8Google Scholar; HNL, 22 April 1885, LPS/7/44, 764.
21 Durand, H. M. and Talbot, A. C., ‘Memorandum on the visit of His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan to India’, LPS/7/44. 179Google Scholar.
22 Yate, A. C., England and Russia face to face in Asia: travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, London, 1887, 329Google Scholar.
23 Anon., Biographical accounts of chiefs, sardars, and others of Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1888, 228Google Scholar. See also ‘Kabul news-letter’(KNL), 19 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1231.
24 Yate, C. E., ‘Badghis: its frontiers and its capabilities’, 1 06 1885, LPS/7/44, 1008Google Scholar; Ridgeway to Durand, telegram 71, 8 July 1885, LPS/7/44, 1359.
25 Yate, C. E., op. cit., 1888, 218Google Scholar; HNL, 30 April 1886, LPS/7/47, 713; cf. Gazetteer of Afghanistan, in, fourth ed., 21, 48, and Gazetteer of Afghanistan, iv (Kabul), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1910, 137Google Scholar.
26 HNL, 11 April 1886, LPS/7/47, 134; MTFI, May 1886, LPS/7/47, 327; Gazetteer of Afghanistan, in, fourth ed., 1.
27 KNL, 29 August 1885, LPS/7/45, 759.
28 Before ‘Abd al-Rahmān's accession, there were few Pashtūns in Afghan Turkistān apart from the colony of some 3,000 families of Ghilzai cultivators settled near Mazār-i Sharif; see Gazetteer of Afghanistan, ii, fourth ed., 136.
29 KNL, 25 August 1882, LPS/7/33, 1697.
30 ‘Peshawar confidential diary’ (PCD), 28 November 1885, LPS/7/45, 1640. See also PCD, 28 September 1885, LPS/7/45, 1157.
31 Governor of Turkistān, see below, p. 70.
32 PCD, 24 October 1885, LPS/7/45, 1252. Certain tax concessions were also promised, see KNL, 29 December 1885, LPS/7/46, 999.
33 Maitland to Ridgeway, 28 January 1886, LPS/7/46, 1483. See also ‘Captain Maitland's and Captain Talbot's journeys in Afghanistan’, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, NS, ix, 2, 1887, 105Google Scholar.
34 PCD, 7 January 1886, LPS/7/46, 461; PCD, 13 February 1886, LPS/7/46, 1546.
35 Yate, C. E., op. cit., 1888, 254Google Scholar.
36 KNL, 30 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1281; KNL (written in Mazār-i Sharīf), 13 February 1890, LPS/7/59, 985.
37 Gazetteer of Afghanistan, III, fourth ed., 271, 275.
38 Gazetteer of Afghanistan, vi (Farah), fourth ed., Calcutta, 1908, p. iii, 10, 81, 159Google Scholar.
39 In the 1880's and 1890'a, Pusht-i Rūd seems often to have been virtually independent of the Farāh Governor, and to have dealt more often with Qandahār, or even directly with Kabul, , see Gazetteer of Afghanistan, vi, fourth ed., p. iii, 157Google Scholar.
40 Muhammad, Faiz, op. cit., 511Google Scholar; MTFI, March 1886, LPS/7/46, 1427. The latter contains a translation of much of the Amīr's proclamation as it was read during the Friday prayers in the mosques; there is no indication that the message was ever directly transmitted to the pastoral nomads at whom it was aimed.
41 Muhammad, Faiz, op. cit., 511Google Scholar; Qandahār ‘news-letter’(QNL), 1 March 1886, LPS/7/47, 5.
42 Faiz Muhammad, ibid.; QNL, 13 April 1886, LPS/7/47, 87; HNL, 7 April 1886, LPS/7/47, 99.
43 Ridgeway to Durand, telegram 190, 19 May 1886, LPS/7/47, 248; MTFI, May 1886, LPS/7/47, 327; HNL, 30 April 1886, LPS/7/47, 713.
44 Yate, C. E., op. cit., 1888, 218Google Scholar.
45 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 495Google Scholar.
46 MTFI, May 1886, LPS/7/47, 326; HNL, 27 December 1886, LPS/7/49, 387.
47 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit,. 511Google Scholar; QNL, 19 May 1886, LPS/7/47, 707: QNL, 4 July 1886, LPS/7/47, 1219.
48 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 511–12Google Scholar; QNL, 19 July 1886, LPS/7/47, 1437; QNL, 23 August 1886, LPS/7/48, 561; HNL, 9 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 809; QNL, 13 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 723; QNL, 24 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1189; QNL, 10 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1201; QNL, 11 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1203.
49 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 511Google Scholar; HNL, 31 October 1886, LPS/7/49, 97. See also HNL, 28 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1165; HNL, 15 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1287.
50 HNL, 29 November 1886, LPS/7/49, 235.
51 HNL, 9 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 809; HNL, 16 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 957; HNL, 6 January 1887, LPS/7/49, 465; cf. Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 495Google Scholar.
52 HNL, 27 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 964.
53 HNL, 11 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1155.
54 MTFI, October 1886, LPS/7/48, 883; HNL, 16 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 957; HNL, 18 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1159; HNL, 21 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1161: Merk, W., ‘Memorandum’, 4 10 1886, LPS/7/49, 49Google Scholar.
55 HNL, 31 October 1886, LPS/7/49, 97.
56 HNL, 25 October 1886, LPS/7/48, 1164; HNL, 18 November 1886, LPS/7/49, 161; HNL, 29 November 1886, LPS/7/49, 235; HNL, 6 December 1886. LPS/7/49, 239.
57 KNL, 30 November 1886, LPS/7/48, 1281.
58 HNL, 16 December 1886, LPS/7/49, 245; HNL, 27 December 1886, LPS/7/49, 387.
59 HNL, 10 January 1887, LPS/7/49, 467; HNL, 24 January 1887, LPS/7/49, 607.
60 KNL, 29 June 1886, LPS/7/47, 901.
61 ‘Abd al-Rahmān to Dufferin, 15 March 1887, LPS/7/49, 1302.
62 HNL, 17 March 1887, LPS/7/49, 1336. For taxation and other purposes, two tribal divisions were recognized by the Government: Durrānī, and opra, see e.g. QNL, 30 11 1906, LPS/7/197, 178Google Scholar. The latter was a residual category including ‘Färsīwāns’, Ghilzais, and Hazāras among others. To-day in north-western Afghanistan the term opra is used by the Durrānīs, though they may not include Ghilzais within the category. The term is synonymous with the more common ‘Fārsīwān’, which includes (a) all Pashtū-speaking groups lacking the -zai suffix in their name, both those such as Balūch whose diverse origins are recognized, and those such as Malikī, Khalīlī, Bāburi, etc., whose origins are obscure and who are said by Durrānīs to speak Persian rather than Pashtū among themselves; (b) peoples who speak Persian as their first language such as Aimāqs, Tājīks, and Hazāras. Uzbeks and other Turkic-speakers are often classed as Fārsīwān, but not usually opra, by the Durrānīs; cf. Rishtin, Sadīqullāh and others (ed.), Pashtū qāmu, Kabul, 1330–3/1951–1954, I, 43, s.v. opra.Google Scholar
63 HNL, 5 May 1887, LPS/7/50, 882; HNL, 9 May 1887, LPS/7/50, 883.
64 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit, 562–4Google Scholar; HNL, 27 June 1887, LPS/7/50, 1558; QNL, 19 July 1887, LPS/7/50, 1679; HNL, 14 July 1887, LPS/7/50, 1745; HNL, 18 July 1887, LPS/7/50, 1747.
65 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 567Google Scholar; cf. KNL, 12 August 1887, LPS/7/50, 1867.
66 HNL, 15 August 1887, LPS/7/51, 379.
67 QNL, 16 August 1887, LPS/7/51, 259. The Ghilzai rebellion in 1886 and 1887 was essentially a reaction to the harsh taxation imposed on the Ghilzais; see Kakar, op. cit., ch. iv. To suppress it, the Amīr tried, as he did in the face of most disturbances, to exploit ethnic or tribal rivalries, to divide and rule. It is in this case somewhat ironic that a ruler who came to power with Ghilzai support (the Amīr's own tribesmen, the Durrānīs, having sided with his rival Sardār Ayūb Khān in 1880–1) was forced in late 1886 to seek Durrani help. The latter was less forthcoming than Kakar implies, cf. QNL, 29 April 1887, LPS/7/50, 581; QNL, 10 June 1887, LPS/7/50, 1195; QNL, 29 July 1887, LPS/7/50, 1743.
It is notable that the connexion between the failure of Pashtūn migration to the north-west and other aspects of the Amīr's policy towards Durranis was made explicit in one report: in September 1886 the Bārakzai Durrānīs, who had previously enjoyed land grants (jāgīr) free of taxation, learned they would no longer be exempted from these or other dues. Though the Bārakzais were inclined to consider this simply a further means devised by the Amīr for oppressing and ruining the Durrānīs of Qandahār, officials claimed that it was a punishment for those Durrānīs who had refused to go to Bādghīs when ordered to do so. In January 1887 ‘Abd al-Rahmān reversed his decision about the Bārakzai jāgīrs to gain their support against the Ghilzais. See QNL, 6 September 1886, LPS/7/48, 721; QNL, 21 January 1887, LPS/7/49, 489.
68 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 567Google Scholar.
69 HNL. 31 October 1887, LPS/7/51, 1033; HNL, 7 November 1887, LPS/7/51, 1357.
70 QNL, 3 January 1888. LPS/7/52, 389; PCD, 21 January 1888, LPS/7/52, 469; HNL, 3 May 1888, LPS/7/54, 71.
71 On the rebellion of Ishāq Khān, see Kakar, op. cit., ch. v; Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 595 ff.Google Scholar; Anon., ‘The rising of Ishaq Khan in southern Turkestan (1888)’, Central Asian Review, vi, 3, 1958, 253–63aGoogle Scholar.
72 KNL, 24 August 1888, LPS/7/55, 17.
73 HNL, 20 August 1888, LPS/7/55, 492.
74 HNL, 1 October 1888, LPS/7/55, 789.
75 MTFI, December 1888. LPS/7/56, 7; KNL (from Mazār-i Sharīf), 15 February 1889, LPS/7/56, 799.
76 KNL (from Mazār-i Sharīf), 11 January 1889, LPS/7/56, 533; KNL (from Mazār-i Sharīf), 5 March 1889, LPS/7/56, 1060; KNL (from Mazār-i Sharīf), 16 April 1889, LPS/7/57. 358: KNL (from Mazar-i Sharif). 5 July 1889, LPS/7/57, 1068.
77 MTFI, April 1890, LPS/7/60, 13.
78 KNL, 16 April 1890, LPS/7/60, 155.
79 See e.g. MTFI, December 1889, LPS/7/59, 24; MTFI, May 1890, LPS/7/60, 428. Frequent reports of this trade are to be found especially in the ‘Herat news-letter’ from 1890 onwards.
80 KNL (from Mazār-i Sharīf), 10 June 1890, LPS/7/60, 867.
81 Yate, C. E., ‘Notes on the fortifications and troops of Herat and on Badghis and northern Afghanistan’, 25 05 1893Google Scholar. LPS/7/70, 1790 ff. See also Yate, C. E.Khurasan and Sistan, London, 1900, 13Google Scholar.
82 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 702Google Scholar; QNL, 31 August 1889, LPS/7/58, 301; QNL, 12 October 1889, LPS/7/58, 843; QNL, 7 December 1889, LPS/7/59, 73; HNL, 19 June 1890, LPS/7/60, 1244; QNL, 27 July 1890. LPS/7/60, 1329; QNL, 28 December 1890, LPS/7/62, 373.
83 HNL, 2 May 1895, LPS/7/80 (pagination not continued); HNL, 16 May 1895, LPS/7/80: HNL, 3 September 1896, LPS/7/88.
84 HNL, 5 July 1886, LRS/7/47, 1417; KNL, 30 November 1886. LPS/7/48. 1281.
85 Yate, C. E., op. cit,, 1888, 231–2Google Scholar.
86 ‘Memorandum handed to Mr. Dobbs by H. H. Amir on 27 July 1904’, LPS/7/169, 1733.
87 Iftikhar-ud-din, Fakir Saiyid, ‘Report on the tour in Afghanistan of His Majesty Amir Habib-ulla Khan G.C.B., G.C.M.G., 1907’, Simla, 1908, Appendix I, Statement A, LPS/7/225, 319Google Scholar.
88 KNL (from Camp Dahanah-i Ghori), 4 December 1888, LPS/7/55, 1389.
89 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 953Google Scholar; PCD, 4 July 1890, LPS/7/60, 920; PCD, 21 January 1891, LPS/7/62, 603: PCD, 23 September 1891, LPS/7/64, 225. On the earlier expansion of the Pashtūns in the Hazārajāt, see Khan, Muhammad Hussain, ‘Report on the Hazarajat’, n.d., included in Yate, dispatch 24, 15 02 1887, LPS/7/49, 415Google Scholar, but cf. Ferdinand, K., ‘Preliminary notes on Hazara culture’, Kongelige Danske Videnslcabernes Selskab. Historisk- Filosofiske Meddelelser, xxxvii, 12, 1959, 19–20Google Scholar.
90 On the Hazāra revolt, see Kakar, op. cit., ch. vi; Evans, H., ‘Recent Soviet writing on Afghanistan’, Central Asian Review, xv, 4, 1967, 316–30Google Scholar.
91 HNL, 1 October 1891, LPS/7/64, 850; QNL, 18 June 1892. LPS/7/66, 1517: KNL, 5 May 1893, LPS/7/70, 838; QNL, 19 May 1893, LPS/7/70, 1331.
92 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 827Google Scholar.
93 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 963Google Scholar.
94 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 1021, 1237Google Scholar.
95 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 703, 707, 790Google Scholar. Gazetteer of Afghanistan, nr, fourth ed., 77.
96 KNL. 10 June 1891, LPS/7/63, 640; KNL, 27 May 1892, LPS/7/66, 1109; QNL, 28 May 1892, LPS/7/66, 1259: KNL, 18 October 1892, LPS/7/68, 419; MTFI, November 1892, LPS/7/68, 828; QNL, 6 January 1893, LPS/7/69, 627.
97 See K. Ferdinand's most illuminating discussion of the various debt relations between Pashtūns, and Hazāras, in ‘Nomad expansion and commerce in central Afghânistân’, Folk, iv, 1962, 140, 149Google Scholar. However, he implies a helplessness on the part of the Hazāras and Aimāqs in the face of Pashtūn expansion which is perhaps misleading: certainly the Aimāqs of Chirās and elsewhere in the north-west have a local reputation for fearless resistance to Pashtūn oppression, and the Yekawlang, Day Kundī, and Bay Zangi Hazāras are famous among the Pashtūns of Turkistān for their ability to unite for common political or economic ends in the Hazārajāt.
98 Tājū Khān's biography written after the failure of the first Pashtūn migration to the north-west is not so flattering, see Anon, ., Biographical accounts of chiefs, 206Google Scholar. See also ‘Chaman diary’, 16 December 1902, LPS/7/151, 263; ‘Kabul diary’(KD), 4 February 1903, LPS/7/151, 332; KD, 18 February 1903, LPS/7/152, 402.
99 HNL, 31 July 1890, LPS/7/61, 201; QNL, 28 December 1890, LPS/7/62, 373.
100 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 847, 910Google Scholar.
101 KD, 22 January 1908, LPS/7/212, 436; Iftikhar-ud-din, Fakir Saiyid, ‘Report’, p. xiGoogle Scholar.
102 Muhammad, Faiẓ, op. cit., 511Google Scholar.
103 Iftikhar-ud-din, Fakir Saiyid, ‘Report’, p. xi, 65Google Scholar; KD, 11 March 1908, LPS/7/214, 724; KD, 17 November 1909, LPS/7/233, 1688.
104 Iftikhar-ud-din, Fakir Saiyid, ‘Report’. pp. xi–xiiGoogle Scholar; KD, 8 January 1908, LPS/7/210, 322.
105 KD, September 1910, LPS/7/243, 1470; KD, 19 November 1910, LPS/7/245, 1842.
106 ‘Diary of the North-West Frontier Province’, 25 April 1914, L/ P & S/10 (Political Secret Subject Files), 46/1912 II, 1938.
107 On the Saqāwi rebellion, see Gregorian, op. cit., ch. x.
108 have no recent reliable information on the situation of the māldārs in Gulrān and Bādghīs; but I have reason to believe the situation there to be similar to that which I have observed in Jauzjān and Fāryāb, though possibly the proportion of Pashtūns maintaining a wholly pastoral economy is larger in the former regions.