The kingdom of Afghanistan

244 Pages·2013·9.3 MB·English

by  George Passman Tate

University of Nebraska Omaha
DigitalCommons@UNO
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1-1-1911
The kingdom of Afghanistan: a historical sketch
George Passman Tate
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Recommended Citation
Tate, George Passman The kingdom of Afghanistan: a historical sketch, with an introductory note by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand.
Bombay: "Times of India" Offices, 1911. 224 p., maps
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Tate, G,P.
The kfn&ean sf Af&mistan,
DATE DUE
I
Mil 7 (7'8
DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION,
HIS EXCELLENCY
BARON HARDINGE OF PENSHURST.
VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA,
.
.a-
(/.
BY m
HIS OBEDIENT, SERVANT THE AUTHOR.
il.IEmtev 01 the Asiniic Society, Be?zg-nl, S?~rueyo f I~din.
dafhor of 'I Seisinqz : A Menzoir on the FJisio~y,T opo~rcrphj~,
A7zliquiiies, (112d Peo$Ie of the Cozi?zt~y';' The F/.o?zlic7,.~
of Baluchisia'nn : Travels on ihe Border.? of Pe~szk
n?zd Akhnnistnn " ; " ICalnf : A lMe??zoir on
t7ze Cozl7~try and Fnrrzily of the
Ahntadsai Khn7zs of Iinlnt" ;
4
ec.
\ViTkI AN INrPR<dl>kJCTOl2Y NO'FE
PRINTED BY BENNETT COLEMAN & Co., Xc. PUBLISHED AT THE
" TIMES OF INDIA" OFFTCES,
BOMBAY & C.1LCUTT-4,
LONDON AGENCY : gg, SI-IOE LANE, E.C.
INTRODUCTION.
HAVE been aslred to write a short introduction to this boolr,
and have much pleasure in doing so.
Afghanistan is a country which should be of interest to
e thinking Englishmen, for its history during the last hun-
dred years has been closely bound LIP with the history of our
Indian Empire ; and wllatever inay be the course of future events
in Asia, the Afghan tribes, with their warlike character and
rugged territory, will always have an important part to play.
Having seen something of them, in peace and in war, and
learned to admire their many fine qualities, I hope that they may
long retain ihe indcpendence to which they are so passionately
attached, ancl that our future relatioils wit11 thein may become
more and more friendly. However this may be, it is very clesir-
able that ilnglisl~rnens hould lino\v as much as possible &out
them ancl their past.
Mr. Tate has many special qualifications for t k ~ vorlr11 e has
undertalcen. I-Iis long service on the North-West Frontier, and
his evident sympathy with the people among whom he has spent
so much of his life, must make what he writes valuable to all
students of Afghan affairs,
The boolr colltai~lsh ere and there passages in which I do not
entirely agree ; but this is inevitable in all such cases. Mr. Tate
l~acse rtainly brought to his worlr not only lr~lowledgea ncl synl-
pathy but much care and research.
A boolr of the kiild is really wanted, and I hope it niay meet
with the attention it deserves.
H. M. DURAND.
PREFACE.
URING a period of many years of service on the outskirts
'A,- e of Afghanistan, I was brought into contact with all classe4
of the inhabitants xvllo are tlow British subjecls, alld after tllo
Ghilzai and Hazarn rebellio~lsa gai~lstt he late Amir, tvitil
ref~igeesw ho had retired for a season into the districts adjoining
Afghanistan. On other occasiolls also I calne into touch [vith clliefs
and common follt who were the subjects of H. H.t l~eA mir. 111 thisxvay
an appetite was created fob a fuller ltnowlzdge of that country and the
people, which was sharpened by the fact that it was i~llpossiblet o enter
the country. I very soon found that, besides Elphillstone's Czubool,
n.11ic11, although n classic, does not satisfy modern requirements, it
was uot possib!e to obtain in any one book, a general and conllected
accouilt of the Afghans. In the course of time, as I had concentrated
my efforts in this directio~l, I discoverect that a very great deal of
valuable information call be foulld in boolts, publisb.ed but out of
print, or cIi6cult to get at; and also in the \voiAlts of many oriental
authol-s, the texvs of which, either manuscript or printed, call be
obtained. I have venturrcl to collect between two covers and to
present in a co~lilecteclf orm, the record of tb.e illost important incidents
- in the history OF the Afghans and their relations with neigl~bou~.ing
States, avoicli~lg cletails ~vhich would obscure the narrative ivithout
adding to the value of the result, An exhaustive account of Afghanistan
and ihe races, which are grouped under the name Afghan, could not be
achieved at at1 satisfactorily, except in Inany volumes, ancl it would be a
task beyond the powers of an individual author. '
The narrative will disclose the llelp,I have received fro111 117y friend,
W.' Irvine, Esq., I.C.S. (retired) ; but I am constrained to matte a
special ackno~vledg~~fio~r nthte enco~iragementI have reEbived from
m
him, and also for a very great deal of active ancl effectiva assistance
in prosecuting my researches in this direction ; and lastly for the labour
he has voluntarily u~ldergonei n aiding rile with .valuable information
gleaned from sources, tvhich, but for him, would have been inaccessible
to me-at any rate for some time to cuine. Any merit, which this
narrative may possess, xvill be dus largely to his valuable :ind cordial
assis tance.
With regard to the map of Afghanistan, :~ttachedt o this book, it is
as well to state explicitly, that it is ii~te~~clteoc lb e no more than n lrey
to the positions of the more important localities and places me~~tioned
in the text ancl to the geographical situation of that country ~vilh
raierence to the do~ni~lionosf neighbo~lring powers. Many very
excellent maps of Afg.hanistan are to be f'ound in the various atlases
publ~shedr ecently. It woulcl not be possible to inlprove 011 those maps
without malcing inroads on information ~vhicha t present is ~vithheM d
from ptrhlics~tion.
G. P. TATE.