The making of modern Afghanistan

279 Pages·2008·1.8 MB·English

by  B. D. Hopkins

The Making of Modern
Afghanistan
B.D. Hopkins
Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series
General Editors: Megan Vaughan, Kings’ College, Cambridge and Richard Drayton,
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
This informative series covers the broad span of modern imperial history while also
exploring the recent developments in former colonial states where residues of empire
can still be found. The books provide in-depth examinations of empires as competing
and complementary power structures encouraging the reader to reconsider their
understanding of international and world history during recent centuries.
Titles include:
Sunil S. Amrith
DECOLONIZING INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
India and Southeast Asia, 1930–65
Tony Ballantyne
ORIENTALISM AND RACE
Aryanism in the British Empire
Robert J. Blyth
THE EMPIRE OF THE RAJ
Eastern Africa and the Middle East, 1858–1947
Roy Bridges (editor)
IMPERIALISM, DECOLONIZATION AND AFRICA
Studies Presented to John Hargreaves
L. J. Butler
COPPER EMPIRE
Mining and the Colonial State in Northern Rhodesia, c.1930–64
T. J. Cribb (editor)
IMAGINED COMMONWEALTH
Cambridge Essays on Commonwealth and International Literature in English
Michael S. Dodson
ORIENTALISM, EMPIRE AND NATIONAL CULTURE
India, 1770–1880
B. D. Hopkins
THE MAKING OF MODERN AFGHANISTAN
Ronald Hyam
BRITAIN’S IMPERIAL CENTURY, 1815–1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion
Third Edition
Robin Jeffrey
POLITICS, WOMEN AND WELL-BEING
How Kerala Became a ‘Model’
Gerold Krozewski
MONEY AND THE END OF EMPIRE
British International Economic Policy and the Colonies, 1947–58
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Sloan Mahone and Megan Vaughan (editors)
PSYCHIATRY AND EMPIRE
Javed Majeed
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, TRAVEL AND POST-NATIONAL IDENTITY
Francine McKenzie
REDEFINING THE BONDS OF COMMONWEALTH 1939–1948
The Politics of Preference
Gabriel Paquette
ENLIGHTENMENT, GOVERNANCE AND REFORM IN SPAIN AND ITS
EMPIRE 1759–1808
John Singleton and Paul Robertson
ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN BRITAIN AND AUSTRALASIA 1945–1970
Kim A. Wagner (editor)
THUGGEE
Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth-Century India
Jon E. Wilson
THE DOMINATION OF STRANGERS
Modern Governance in Eastern India, 1570–1835
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The Making of Modern
Afghanistan
B. D. Hopkins
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© B. D. Hopkins 2008
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified
as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2008 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN-13: 978–0–230–55421–4 hardback
ISBN-10: 0–230–55421–0 hardback
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hopkins, B. D., 1978–
The making of modern Afghanistan / B. D. Hopkins.
p. cm. — (Cambridge imperial and post-colonial studies series)
Based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978–0–230–55421–4 (hbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–230–55421–0 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Afghanistan—History—19th century. 2. East India Company—History.
I. Title.
DS361.H67 2008
958.1'03—dc22 2008021575
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
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Contents
Note on Transliteration vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of Maps xi
Introduction 1
I. Afghanistan imagined 1
II. Situating Afghanistan 2
III. The argument 6
1 The Power of Colonial Knowledge 11
I. Introduction 11
II. British imaginings 13
III. Elphinstone’s legacy 23
IV. Conclusion 32
2 The Myth of the ‘Great Game’ 34
I. Introduction 34
II. The ‘Great Game’ 35
III. The Indus Scheme 47
IV. British policy west of the Indus 50
V. Conclusion 59
3 Anglo-Sikh Relations and South Asian Warfare 61
I. Introduction 61
II. The failure of British strategy 62
III. The Punjab and the ‘military labour market’ 70
IV. The Afghan-Sikh conflict 75
V. Conclusion 78
4 Ontology of the Afghan Political Community 82
I. Introduction 82
II. The contours of Afghanistan’s social ecology 84
III. A tribal kingdom: The evolution of the Afghan
proto-state 87
IV. Afghanistan’s plundering polity model 90
V. Afghanistan’s Islamic moral landscape 98
VI. ‘Royalism’ in an egalitarian society 102
VII. Conclusion 107
v
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vi Contents
5 Camels, Caravans and Corridor Cities:
The Afghan Economy 110
I. Introduction 110
II. The Afghan transit economy 113
III. Exogenous factors affecting the Afghan economy 123
IV. Conclusion 133
6 The Afghan Trade Corridor 136
I. Introduction 136
II. Typology of caravan corridor cities 137
III. Corridor cities of Central Asian caravan commerce 139
IV. Conclusion 159
Conclusion: The ‘Failure’ of the Afghan Political Project 163
I. The creation of ‘Afghanistan’ 163
II. The argument revisited 165
III. Implications 167
IV. The colonial legacy 170
Epilogue 174
Notes 176
Glossary of Foreign Terms 228
Unpublished Sources 230
Bibliography 233
Index 249
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Note on Transliteration
In the main, I have employed the most common transliteration of well-
known terms where possible. For those less commonly used, I have loosely
followed the transliteration standard of the Encyclopaedia of Islam.
vii
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Acknowledgements
My interest in Afghanistan was, at its inception, a bit of an accident. Looking
for a graduate research topic which encapsulated the various themes which
interested me, I was inexorably drawn to the North West Frontier of British
India. No doubt, the stories of intrigue and spies best encapsulated by Kim
initially captured my attention. I had little inclination, however, that on the
Frontier, fact is stranger, and indeed more interesting than fiction. When
I began examining the literature on the Frontier and Afghanistan, I found
that there was relatively little of recent vintage, especially with regard to
earlier part of the nineteenth century. That Afghanistan and the Frontier
were the subject of such spartan attention was not in itself surprising. These
were, after all, the days before September 11, 2001. Yet since that time, despite
the amount of money, men and material spent on this once forgotten corner
of the world, the scholarship remains thin, particularly regarding its history
before 1980. This is surprising, and sadly telling. Though not the intent of
this book, I can only hope that it will inform those who read it of the canvas
upon which present efforts are being painted. Afghanistan, in spite of our
short collective memory, is not a land without history. The West has been
there time and time again over the past 200 years, and invariably it is the
Afghans who come off worse for the encounter.
The seeds of this project were planted one rainy spring afternoon in
London during a conversation with one of my professors while I was an
undergraduate. Over the years, they took root, matured and in the end,
I hope, flowered. Without the support of a number of people, literally around
the world, this project would never have seen the light of day. This work,
like any good piece of scholarship, is the product of selfless investment by a
number of individuals. It falls on me here to name but a few. The omission
of others in print is reflective of neither my lack of gratitude nor ignorance
that outstanding debts – intellectual and otherwise – remain.
This book initially took shape as my doctoral dissertation at the University
of Cambridge. I could not have produced this without the intellectual
mentorship and support of my supervisor, Professor Sir C. A. Bayly. He
continually challenged me throughout the progress of my thesis, and has
proved no less dogged as I have turned that work into the present book.
My intellectual debt and personal gratitude to him are understandably
substantial. The conversation on that rainy spring afternoon was with Dr Joya
Chatterji, without whose constant encouragement and support I would have
never undertaken this study, nor likely pursued graduate work. My debt
to Joya has grown over the years as our friendship has deepened. I hope
viii
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Acknowledgements ix
this work stands as a small testament to her investment in my intellectual
development. The support of the friends who have seen me through this
while working on their own dissertations and books has been incalculable.
Magnus, Justin, Taylor, Rachel and others – thank you for listening to my
ramblings with good humour. Sadly, Raj Chandavakar, the man who planted
a nagging question in my mind about what my work says about the colonial
state, did not live to see my answer. The work is undoubtedly poorer because
of this. The suggestions of my doctoral examiners, Professors B. R. Tomlinson
and David Washbrook, were invaluable, as has been their continuing support.
Thanks are due as well to my old friend and mentor Sylla Cousineau, who
has long shared and encouraged my love of history.
The production of this book owes much to the assistance rendered by
countless librarians and archivists at a number of institutions in the UK, as
well as in South Asia. The staffs in the Oriental and African Collections at the
British Library as well as at the National Library of Scotland, the Cambridge
University Library, the Centre for South Asian Studies and the Royal Asiatic
Society in London were simply brilliant. Likewise, their counterparts in
South Asia, at the National Archives of India in New Delhi and the Punjab
Provincial Archives in Lahore, were extremely helpful. I received financial
support from a number of bodies during the research and writing of this
book. My doctorate was supported by the Cambridge Commonwealth
and Overseas Trust as well as Trinity College, Cambridge. Anil Seal was
instrumental in securing this support on my behalf. Trinity supported the
transformation of my dissertation into the present book with the Rouse Ball
Prize. I have also received support from my present home, Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge.
None of this would have been possible without the love and support of
my family. Though not always sure of what, exactly, I have been doing with
myself, they have been unrelenting in their support and unquestioning in
their faith in the final outcome. Had my parents not initially encouraged and
subsequently nurtured an intellectual curiosity about the world in general,
and a love of history in particular, I would not have taken the path I have.
My debt to them is greatest of all. Finally, the patience, love and support of
my beautiful wife Lila has been unsurpassed through all of this. To her, this
book is dedicated.
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