History of Afghanistan

Percy Sykes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317845867
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 2007. This title combines two volumes of work; fifty-eight chapters dissecting the history of Afghanistan with sketch maps and illustrations throughout. Sykes argues that few countries present problems of greater interest to the historian than landlocked Afghanistan, the counterpart in Asia of Switzerland in Europe. Their studies cover the prehistory in the Near East, going through the history of each dynasty up to the early 1900s. A key text for historians, students and those interested in the complex history of the country.

A HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN

Volume I

This classic work was the first complete history of Afghanistan which, because of its geographical location and strategic position, has always been at the heart of power struggles in Asia. Lying between Central Asia, Iran and Pakistan, and bounded by immense mountain ranges and vast tracts of sandy desert, it has been the object of conquest since at least the sixteenth century B.C., by leaders who through the ages have included Alexander the Great and Baber, founder of the Moghul Empire. Drawing upon his first hand knowledge of the region acquired over many years as well as original sources, the author has prepared the work in two volumes. Volume One deals with the history of the region from prehistoric times to the siege of Herat in 1833 A.D, including chapters on The Seleucid Dynasty and the Rise of Parthia; The Kingdom of Bactria; Arab Conquests in Central Asia and Afghanistan; Tamerlane; The Renaissance of Art Under the Timurid Princes and Nadir Shah. Volume Two presents the history of Afghanistan from the first Afghan War in 1839 to the accession of King Zahir Shah in 1988, and includes chapters on The Retreat from Kabul; The Advance of Russia Across Central Asia; The Second and Third Afghan Wars; the Anglo-Russian Convention and the election of Nadir Khan as King of Afghanistan. It concludes with eight detailed appendices on treaties and agreements. Both volumes contain maps and illustrations. First published in 1940, A History of Afghanistan remains a definitive work on the subject, and an important and essential work of reference for all historians of the area and of international relations.

Percy Sykes was a distinguished British diplomat and scholar who served as Consul in Seistan, and as Consul-General in Khurasan and in Chinese Turkestan. For many years he was involved in the struggle for influence in Persia with Russia.

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A HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN

Volume I

PERCY SYKES

First published 2005 by
Kegan Paul Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electric, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 13: 978-0-710-31174-0 (hbk)

This book is dedicated to

BRITISH FRONTIER OFFICERS IN ASIA

PAST AND PRESENT

Along many a thousand miles of remote border are to be found our twentieth-century Marcher Lords. The breath of the Frontier has entered into their nostrils and infused their being. Courage and conciliation — for unless they have an instinctive gift of sympathy with the native tribes, they will hardly succeed — patience and tact, initiative and self-restraint, these are the complex qualifications of the modern school of pioneers.

CURZON

PREFACE

FEW countries present problems of greater interest to the historian than landlocked Afghanistan, the counterpart in Asia of Switzerland in Europe.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century B.C. the first great migration of the Aryans swept across this rugged country in their long march from their homeland in Central Asia to the plains of India. We next read of Alexander the Great leading his army up the valley of the Helmand and crossing the mighty range of the Hindu Kush into Bactria, to win laurels in Central Asia. Two years later he again crossed these mountains and marched down the passes into the valley of the Indus to gain fresh victories in the Punjab. From this province he led his war-weary veterans across the deserts of Baluchistan to triumphal celebrations at Susa.

Coming down the ages, we see another famous conqueror in Baber who, after capturing Kabul, founded the Moghul empire of India early in the sixteenth century. From this period his successors were faced with the necessity of maintaining Afghanistan as a buffer state against attacks from the Shahs of Persia to the west, and from the Uzbeg rulers of Bukhara to the north. By the Moghul Emperors Kabul and Kandahar were rightly recognized to be the keys of India and the British, who succeeded the Moghuls, are faced with the same problem today, with Russia as the successor of Bukhara.

I first travelled in Central Asia nearly fifty years ago and, since that journey, I have been a keen student of the problems of which Afghanistan constitutes the kernel. The appointments which I have held have, generally speaking, kept me in touch with Afghanistan, whether serving as Consul in Seistan, as Consul-General in Khurasan (where I was in political charge of the Herat province through a native Agent), or again as Consul-General in Chinese Turkistan, when I travelled on the Pamirs. For many years I took part in the struggle for influence in Persia with Russia and, during the last Great War, I helped to foil Germany in her designs on Afghanistan by the capture of her supporting missions in Persia.

In writing this work, the first complete history of Afghanistan, my aim has been to supply British officials and the British public with accurate information. If the results of my studies and journeys are also appreciated by Moslems in Afghanistan and India, I shall be doubly rewarded.

P. M. SYKES

THE ATHENAEUM

September 1940

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

AFGHANISTAN — THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

CHAPTER II

PREHISTORY AND EARLY HISTORY IN EGYPT AND THE NEAR EAST

CHAPTER III

THE MEDES AND PERSIANS CONQUER THE IRANIAN PLATEAU

CHAPTER IV

CYRUS THE GREAT FOUNDS THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

CHAPTER V

ALEXANDER THE GREAT CONQUERS THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

CHAPTER VI

THE SELEUCID DYNASTY AND THE RISE OF PARTHIA

CHAPTER VII

THE KINGDOM OF BACTRIA

CHAPTER VIII

ROME, PARTHIA AND THE KUSHAN DYNASTY

CHAPTER IX

THE SASANIAN DYNASTY, ROME AND THE WHITE HUNS

CHAPTER X

THE REIGN OF NOSHIRWAN, FOLLOWED BY THE DECLINE OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

CHAPTER XI

ARAB CONQUESTS IN CENTRAL ASIA AND AFGHANISTAN

CHAPTER XII

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ABBASID DYNASTY AND ITS DECAY

CHAPTER XIII

THE DYNASTY OF GHAZNI

CHAPTER XIV

THE SELJUK AND THE GHURID DYNASTIES

CHAPTER XV

THE MONGOL CATACLYSM

CHAPTER XVI

THE IL-KHANS

CHAPTER XVII

TAMERLANE

CHAPTER XVIII

THE RENAISSANCE OF ART UNDER THE TIMURID PRINCES

CHAPTER XIX

BABER FOUNDS THE MOGHUL EMPIRE OF INDIA

CHAPTER XX

AFGHANISTAN AND THE EMPERORS HUMAYUN AND AKBAR

CHAPTER XXI

AFGHANISTAN UNDER THE LATER MOGHUL EMPERORS

CHAPTER XXII

NADIR SHAH RECOVERS THE LOST PROVINCES OF PERSIA

CHAPTER XXIII

NADIR SHAH — HIS CONQUESTS AND DEATH

CHAPTER XXIV

AHMAD SHAH FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN

CHAPTER XXV

TIMUR SHAH AND ZAMAN SHAH

CHAPTER XXVI

THE DOWNFALL OF THE SADOZAI DYNASTY

CHAPTER XXVII

DOST MUHAMMAD BECOMES AMIR OF KABUL

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE MISSION OF BURNES AND THE SIEGE OF HERAT

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Road to Takht-i-Sulaiman

Shapur the First and the Emperor Valerian

Hsuan-Tsang returning to China with a Load of Manuscripts

Ghazni: the Towers of Victory

Timur

The Pulpit of the Mahdi

The Emperor Baber on his Throne

Nadir Shah

Kandahar—the Tomb of Ahmad Shah

Amir Dost Muhammad Khan

Herat Citadel from the city

MAPS

Early Iran

The Empire of Alexander the Great

Ptolemy’s Asia

Eurasia about A.D. 650

CHAPTER I

AFGHANISTAN — THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

That empire, bounded on the north and east by immense mountain ranges, and on the south and west by vast tracts of sandy desert, opposed to external hostility natural defences of a formidable character. The general aspect of the country was wild and forbidding; in the imagination of the people haunted with goules and genii; but not unvaried by spots of gentler beauty in the valleys and on the plains, where the fields were smiling with cultivation, and the husbandman might be seen busy at his work.—KAYE, The War in fghanistan.

A Geographical Sketch.—Afghanistan or the Land of the Afghans”, correctly speaking, has not borne that name until the foundation of the Kingdom of Ahmad Shah, Durrani, in the middle of the eighteenth century. I am, however, for the sake of convenience, using the term throughout this work.¹ The country occupies the north-eastern portion of the arid Iranian plateau.² Northwards it is bounded by the valley of the Oxus and the Central Asian depression and eastwards by the low-lying plains of Northern India, watered by the Indus and its tributaries. Westwards its neighbour is the kingdom of Persia, while southwards in its most waterless area it unites with the deserts of Baluchistan.

The Dimensions of Afghanistan.—From the Persian frontier at Kariz, on the Meshed-Herat road, to the borders of the Indian Empire at the Khaibar Pass, the distance is approximately six hundred miles. The width of the country decreases as it runs from south-west to a point in the north-east, where an arm consisting of the narrow district of Wakhan, constitutes the eastern end of the Russo-Afghan boundary. At its broadest section, that represented by a line drawn from Kilif on the Oxus to New Chaman, the distance would be some four hundred and fifty miles. The total area aggregates 250,000 square miles, which is slightly larger than that of France, while the population may be estimated at about ten millions.

A Comparison with Switzerland.—Afghanistan may be described as the Switzerland of Southern Asia. Both countries are essentially mountainous and contain main ranges and the sources of important rivers; both are situated inland, lacking contact with ocean or sea. Again, these two countries alike are inhabited by many different races who have heard the tramp of invaders marching towards the sunny south. Finally, in the crossing of the Mount Joux Pass (now the St. Bernard) by medieval English or French pilgrims bound for Rome, we have their counterpart in Afghanistan of Hsuan-tsang the Buddhist pilgrim from distant China, seeking to learn “the wisdom of the west” in India.

The Boundaries.—The limits of Afghanistan, until comparatively recently, were ill-defined and, during the last fifty years have been settled by numerous commissions, which will be dealt with in this work. Here it is merely intended to supply an outline.

Starting from Zulfikar Pass, at the north-west corner, the boundary runs eastwards to Kushk, the terminus of a branch line of the Russian Central Asian Railway from the junction at Merv. Continuing, it follows a northeasterly direction and strikes the Oxus in the district of Khamiab. That great river, or its tributary the Pamir River, then forms the boundary of Afghan Turkistan, of Badakhshan and of Wakhan to Sir-i-Kul (Lake Victoria) on the Pamirs. The boundary continuing through the lake follows the northern boundary of Wakhan to its junction with the Chinese Empire in the inaccessible range of Sarikol.

Turning south-westwards from this point the frontier follows the crest of the Hindu Kush, bending gradually southwards and marching with the North-West Frontier Province until it reaches Kafiristan. Here the lofty Shawal range running southwards divides the Bashgol Valley of Kafiristan from the parallel Valley of Chitral. Further south Dir and Malakand lie on the British side of the frontier, and the Kabul-Peshawar frontier is reached at Landi Kotal to the east of the historical Khaibar Pass. The boundary is thence carried to the lofty Safid Kuh and, passing below the Peiwar Kotal, it includes Wazi-ristan on the Indian side of the boundary and reaches the borders of British Baluchistan at the famous Gumal Pass.

From Domandi, an uninhabited spot at the junction of the Kundar with the Gumal River,¹ to Kuh-i-Malik-i-Siah or “The Mountain of the Black Chief”, where the frontier of Persia is reached, is a distance of over eight hundred miles. Generally speaking, it is a desert land with barren mountain ranges and vast open plains, possessing few inhabitants owing to lack of water and of security. Dry torrent beds with boulders or pebbles cover large areas, to be succeeded by equally large areas of sand dunes. The rare springs of water are usually salt or possess unpleasant medicinal properties. But there are very occasionally green wooded valleys with streams of pure water, fertile tracts which give intense pleasure to the sun-scorched traveller, who, as I can bear witness, senses the delicious humidity with its promise of sweet water, from afar.

To give some details of this section: the boundary follows up the Kundar River to the highlands of Khurasan, rising to an altitude of 7000 feet, where, dividing the drainage flowing into Afghanistan to the north and west from that flowing into India on the south and east, the watershed is reached. Here the frontier trends in a south-westerly direction to the British railhead at New Chaman. Thence it turns to the south until, opposite Nushki, it takes a generally westerly direction to the Kuh-i-Malik-i-Siah.

It is interesting to note that, as far as Nushki, the tribes on both sides of the frontier are Afghans; westwards they are Baluchis and Brahuis. From Chagai, situated on the Lora Hamun, the Registan Desert gives place to rugged black mountain masses, rising to 7000 feet, with practically no population, while water presents a very serious difficulty. Upon approaching the boundary of Persia, the Kuh-i-Taftan,¹ rising to 12,600 feet, is clearly visible.

Before actually reaching the Kuh-i-Malik-i-Siah, the Gaud-i-Zirra, which falls entirely to Afghanistan, is passed. It is a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Volume I
• Volume II
• EPILOGUE
• APPENDIX A: The Simla Manifesto
• APPENDIX B: The Treaty of Capitulation
• APPENDIX C: Agreement between His Highness Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, G.C.S.I., and Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, K.C.I.E., C.S.I
• APPENDIX D: Translation of the Treaty
• APPENDIX E: Articles of the Anglo-Russian Agreement as affecting Afghanistan
• APPENDIX F: The Treaty of Peace of August 8, 1919
• APPENDIX G: Note on Proposals of the British and Afghan Governments for a Treaty of Friendship
• APPENDIX H: The Treaty
• LIST OF AUTHORITIES
• INDEX