The Queen Dowager, Bibi Halima, the mother of Sirdar Mahommed Omar Khan, a woman of engaging personality, at one time held a position not without close resemblance to those filled by the Empress Dowager of China and the Lady Om, queen to the Emperor of Korea. Her intrigues on behalf of her son were over-bold and she is now confined—her son, contrary to the energetic character of his mother, taking little interest in his situation. The Bibi Halima is a woman of considerable beauty, particularly intelligent and well informed. She is nearly forty-three years of age, and her sympathies are so distinctly British that her palace is regarded with as much suspicion as the British agency. The law of succession to the thrones in Mahommedan countries, apart from the exercise of opportunity which secures recognition upon the basis that might is right, entails the throne upon the son of the first woman whom the ruler may have married. The heir may be younger than sons born to other women, but, if such a marriage were the first alliance contracted by his father, the succession is seldom set aside. Abdur Rahman, however, departed from this custom as the Amirs of Afghanistan have power to appoint their successors.

Ultimately, there is some prospect of a struggle for the throne taking place between the uncle and his nephew. Each is a young man; but, although time may not temper their discretion, it does lie within the power of Habib Ullah to place the rights of his son beyond the reach of this particular rival candidate. In any case, and it is of interest to note it, Habib Ullah has gone out of his way to consolidate the position of his eldest son, Inayat Ullah. This he did by despatching him on the recent mission to India and appointing him Governor of Kabul, while Mahommed Omar shares the restricted liberty of his mother, and Hayat Ullah, born in 1890, the son of a Badakshi slave-girl and half-brother to Inayat Ullah, the heir-apparent, has been appointed to Badakshan as Governor of the province. These facts are in reality only eddies showing the way that the current runs in Kabul, where from its complex nature the position may be described as shifting, delicate and treacherous as any quicksand. None the less the policy of the new Amir has been markedly benevolent; and his remission of certain taxes, his many acts of clemency to Afridi fugitives and his invitations[41] to Afghan refugees of noble or tribal families to return, reveal a great change in the controlling forces in Afghanistan. It is to us not a matter of gratification altogether, for it merely shows that the tribal leaders of noble families have lost their influence, that they can no more sway factions or parties in the population, and that power in Afghanistan is being gradually centralised around the Amir in a circle of officials which is controlled by the mullahs. The invitation to the refugees to come back is not out of any generosity of feeling; it arises from pride—and a desire to appear to be indulgent to those who are helpless and who are now impotent. In fact it is political charity, intended to spread the good name of the new ruler of Afghanistan in India, and to impress the British Government. It is a certain indication too, that, in the event of complications in the future with Afghanistan, the assistance of dissatisfied Sirdars will be of little value, for, in a few years if not very soon, the only elements will be the officials, the bureaucracy and the mullahs. At the same time the power of the Amir himself has been reduced and transferred to the officials. The measures of Abdur Rahman prepared the way for this change. He either killed or frightened out of Afghanistan every rival or every individual likely to acquire influence. His declaration and boast was that his God-granted Government ruled for the benefit of the people and the glory of religion, that he had no object but the good of the country and no secrets from the people as he had no interests but theirs to serve. There is not amongst any class of Afghans the feeling of reverence for the throne which exists in Turkey or in Persia. The Amir is the highest official of a tribe, that has seized power; and Afghanistan is gradually evolving a bureaucratic Government controlled by priestly influence, whose policy will not always be measured by the interests of the country, but by whatever interpretations of the “Sheriat” some powerful mullah may conjure up.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is acknowledged to be an independent Government within certain limitations. No Power has any right to interfere in its administration, although it is obvious that certain contingencies might alter its position in this respect. In the meantime, the Government of Afghanistan owes no national debt nor any war indemnity. The Amir is not hampered by any capitulations with Foreign Governments; he has no foreign ambassadors in his capital—although this is more a grievance than a pleasure to him, since he is anxious to vaunt his independence before the Courts of Europe.

The relations between Great Britain and Afghanistan as they stand to-day are fixed by treaties. The British Government acknowledges the independence of Afghanistan; it accepts responsibility for its safety and integrity against unprovoked aggressions, so long as the Amir does not act against the advice of the British Government in matters affecting his relations with other countries. Great Britain pays the Amir eighteen lakhs of rupees as an annual subsidy by virtue of Sir Mortimer Durand’s treaty with the Amir Abdur Rahman, dated 1893 and confirmed by Sir Louis Dane with the Amir Habib Ullah, 1904-1905; in addition to which she permits Afghanistan to import without restriction supplies of war materials and to maintain a political agent at the Court of the Viceroy of India.

In return for this understanding with the Imperial Government, the Amir is bound by his word and treaties to be the friend and ally of Great Britain; he pledges himself not to communicate with any Foreign Power without consulting with the Indian Government, and to accept at Kabul a British Agent, who must always be a Mahommedan subject and provided solely with a native staff.

The British agent at Kabul holds an absolutely thankless position. He is shunned of necessity by Europeans in order to avoid giving rise to political suspicions, and he may see the Amir only in the public Durbars or by special appointment. To all intents and purposes he is a prisoner; since, although received in Durbar, he does not visit any one and seldom ventures into the street. If a European were seen speaking to the British Agent, or to any one attached to his staff, he would certainly be packed off at once to the frontier. No Afghan is allowed to enter the British Agency and no Englishman has visited the British Agent, since Sir Salter Pyne left Kabul. Even to be found near the building causes suspicion, as several Afghans have discovered. Moreover, since in many cases punishment has not ended merely with imprisonment, it has become an unwritten law to avoid the British agent and his entourage at any cost.

The British political agents at Kabul are appointed by the Indian Foreign Office, who forward to the Amir for his approval the names of a few Mahommedan officials. One of these candidates is selected, the term of office being from three to five years. Upon returning to India he is usually rewarded with the title of Nawab. The Agency staff consists of two secretaries, one hospital assistant, and about two or three dozen private servants and bodyguard, all of which must be natives of India. The British agent attends the public audiences of the Amir; but, if he has any letters or communications from the British Government to convey to the Amir, he must ask for an appointment to deliver them.

If there are any legal disputes or claims between members of the staff of the British agent, both plaintiff and defendant are referred by him to the Courts of Justice in India. If the British agent or any member of his staff has a dispute with the Afghan subjects of the Amir, such cases are usually decided in the Courts of Kabul, under the law of that country. Complications of a very serious political character are invariably referred to the Governments of India and Afghanistan for arrangement between themselves.

The British agent puts his diary and also the private letters of the whole of his staff into one package, which he hands to the Amir’s Postmaster-General at Kabul, taking a receipt for their delivery under seal; from the Amir’s post-office they are sent down to Peshawar, where the Amir’s postmaster is given a discharge for their surrender to the political agent at Peshawar. In the same manner the packages of letters, which are delivered by the British political agent at Peshawar to the Amir’s postmaster at that place, are forwarded to the British agent at Kabul by the Amir’s Postmaster-General, who also takes a voucher for their safe and proper condition. The services and duties of the Amir’s political agent with the Viceroy of India, who, together with his staff, is a Mahommedan subject of the Amir, are nearly the same as those of the British agent at Kabul, except that the term and time of his office is not limited and depends entirely on the pleasure of the Amir. Besides the political agent, the Amir has various commercial agents in India as well as in England, the most important of these having been Sir Acquin Martin, Mr. T. B. Guthrie and Mr. E. T. Pack. Each of these industrious and excellent servants of the Amir has suffered the loss of large sums of money through a very pronounced defect in the Amirs of Afghanistan, which causes them to forget their obligations so long as there is a frontier lying between the Government of Kabul and those with whom its debts have been contracted. Representations remain unanswered and, apparently, no authority exists which can make the Amir of Afghanistan redeem his liabilities, although an obvious course awaits if the Government of India would assent to the attachment of the subsidy.

[36] Printed on page 365.

[37] Adapted from “The Life of Abdur Rahman”: Sultan Mahomed Khan and “The Middle Eastern Question”: Valentine Chirol.

[38] Born 1890.

[39] Born 1893.

[40] See p. 372.

[41] See p. 371.