{"id":225,"date":"2023-09-16T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T06:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/?p=225"},"modified":"2023-10-09T08:14:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T08:14:35","slug":"durand-line-as-if-it-doesnt-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/durand-line-as-if-it-doesnt-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"Durand Line as if it doesn\u2019t exist<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Durand Line as if it doesn\u2019t exist<\/strong><\/p>\n

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by Manzoor Ahmed Manzoor<\/p>\n

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(Written before 2009, updated 16-9-2023; presently references not available)<\/p>\n

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Looking ahead, neither Taliban of Afghanistan are its future nor Urdu Party ideologues-led Pakistan is viable. And I can\u2019t see Pakistan and Afghanistan confronting each other. Consider TTP spoiled children of the time who deserve constant punishment. Consider Durand Line as if it doesn\u2019t exist. Pakistan and Afghanistan have and must have a great future. The right initiative has to come from Pakistan. This is Pakistan World Power Manifesto.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Therefore in knowing something of worth about Afghanistan in the present situation, which in fact has become our dire necessity, it is just appropriate to begin, if not from earlier, with the person who, during his career, practically dominated the whole of Afghanistan-Hindustan region for about twenty to thirty years. There are more than one defining moments before and after the mid- eighteenth century of the history of this region which can be said to be solely attributable to him. He was Ahmad Shah Abdali or Durrani \u2013 Ahmad Shah \u201cBaba\u201d, the \u201cFather\u201d of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

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Ahmad Shah Abdali was an army commander of the Persian Emperor Nadir Shah and was with him when in 1739 he invaded India and took back with him the famous Peacock Throne to Iran. When Nadir Shah was killed by a group of dissident officers, Ahmad and some 4,000 of his cavalrymen escaped with the treasury Nadir Shah always carried with him for payments and bribes en route. Ahmad and his Abdali horsemen rode past Herat and southeastward, joining the chiefs of the Abdali tribes and clans at a shrine near Kandahar where they finally chose Ahmad who belonged to the \u201cSadozai clan of the Abdali tribe and whose name he, then, changed to Durrani.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n

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The Afghans found a leader of genius in Ahmad Shah Durrani. Most probably, \u201che would have remained the leader of a vigorous people in a barren country but for one of the periodical eras of political confusion in the Indian plains.\u201d [2] The Pashtun tribesmen rallied to his banner, and Ahmad Shah led them on nine or ten campaigns into India in search of booty and territorial conquest.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe ruled from Kandahar and aimed at uniting all Afghans under his scepter. When he died in 1773 his rule extended to Kafiristan (later Nuristan) and the Amu Darya on the north, to Kashmir, the Sutlej, and the Indus on the east, to the sea on the south, and to Persia and Khorasan to the west.\u201d [3] Sindh had been subject to the Mughal rule from 1591 to 1750. It had then passed to Ahmad Shah. In modern terms Ahmad Shah\u2019s rule, which was short-lived, stretched over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, parts of India, Iran and Central Asia.<\/p>\n

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Ahmad Shah\u2019s first attempt on the empire failed at Sirhind, now in India, in 1748. No more of him would have been heard east of the Indus, if the Mughal empire had remained powerful. \u201cIn 1749 he again appeared but was bought off by the governor of Lahore. In 1751-2 he appeared again and captured Lahore. This time the imperial government itself bought him off by the cession of Punjab and Multan.\u201d [4] \u201cWhile his ambassador was away to Delhi, Ahmad Shah Durrani dispatched a strong detachment to conquer Kashmir.\u201d [5] The Mughal governor was easily overpowered and Kashmir became part of Durrani empire. In 1756-57 Ahmad Shah took and sacked Delhi. Agra, Mathura and other places were plundered. The Afghan booty from India was enormous and the details are too painful a reading. Ahmad Shah annexed the Sirhind division to his kingdom, appointed his son Taimur the viceroy of the Punjab and retired to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAhmad Shah entered India, amidst appeals from Muslim leaders of Hindustan, for the fifth time in 1759 and found himself confronted not so much with the Mughals as with the resurgent power of the Hindus represented by the Marathas. The moves and counter-moves of the next eighteenth months culminated in the battle of Panipat <\/em>on 14 January 1761.\u201d [6]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe resounding victory which he gained appeared to lay Hindustan at his feet. The Marathas were scattered and confounded, the surviving Mughal chiefs divided and of little power, the English Company still distant in Bengal. But at this moment his troops clamoured for arrears of pay and a return to Kabul. They lacked the tenacity of Babur\u2019s Mughal begs <\/em>and Hindustan the wealth which had existed in Babur\u2019s day. There is nothing more eloquent of the enfeebled state of the empire than that Afghans should return to their hills because Delhi could not provide them with pay. Ahmad Shah was compelled to lay aside the scepter within his grasp, saving his face by the nomination of Shah Alam as a vassal emperor and Najib-ud-daula as his minister. In fact he had abdicated the empire. He never returned to Delhi and his own kingdom was to break up in its turn within half a century.\u201d [7]<\/p>\n

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After Ahmad Shah\u2019s death, his son Taimur became the Shah. In his time the Sikh power grew in the Punjab and Sindh was lost and became virtual independent under Talpur Amirs. Taimur died in 1793.<\/p>\n

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Indeed, it was under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Durrani that the nation of Afghanistan began to take shape after centuries of fragmentation and rule by invaders. In this way, being a nation or on the way to become a nation, as we recognize the nations of the world today, Afghanistan is about two hundred years senior to Pakistan.<\/p>\n

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A very brief background of Sikhs who were contesting for power in the Punjab even before the appearance of Ahmad Shah Abdali is required here. The Sikhs, or \u2018disciples\u2019 were a pious sect of Hindus following the precepts of their first guru Nanak (1469-1539). Thirty-eight years after the death of Guru Nanak, in 1577, Akbar granted to the fourth guru the site of the Tank and Golden Temple at Amritsar, and so established that town as the headquarters of the Sikh faith.<\/p>\n

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The fifth guru, Arjun, was tortured and executed in 1606 by order of Jahangir, not on account of his religious teaching, but because he refused to pay the fine imposed on him for having assisted Khusru, Jahangir\u2019s rebellious son. The ninth guru Tegh Bahadur was captured in 1675. He rejected the demand of Aurangzeb to embrace Islam, and in consequence was executed in the same year.<\/p>\n

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It is doubtful if Akbar would have acted the way Jahangir or Aurangzeb acted in the murders of these two religious leaders. Perhaps, Akbar\u2019s policy and acts would not have created such conditions in the first place. History would have, then, taken a different route and for the better. This is how individuals matter in history.<\/p>\n

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In our time Musharraf compelled Nawab Akbar Bugti to seek protection in the mountains of Baluchistan, where, after being pursued, he was killed. And due to this and other acts of Musharraf, history went on a different route and for the worse.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe tenth and last guru, Govind Singh (1675-1708), was the real founder of the Sikh military power\u201d, [8] which he organized to oppose the Mughals. After a life of rebellion and war \u201che decided to support Bahadur Shah (Shah Alam) in the war of succession\u201d after Aurangzeb\u2019s death \u201cand consequently accepted service under that prince when he gained the throne.\u201d [9] He was murdered in the Deccan by an Afghan where he had joined Bahadur Shah.<\/p>\n

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The guru had met earlier in the Deccan a man known as Banda Bairagi who was leading the life of a hermit. The guru had already heard of his widespread fame and finding him the most suitable person for carrying on his work in the Punjab, entrusted him with his mission in the presence of his Sikhs. He led the Sikhs from 1709 to 1715. He took many retaliatory actions in which Mughal authorities and other Muslims suffered a lot. Banda was finally captured in December 1715 and executed along with many of his followers.<\/p>\n

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The period of one quarter of a century, following the execution of Banda, may be regarded as the darkest period of Sikh history. It seemed as if the power of the Sikhs had been totally destroyed. But it was not so. A consolidation was taking place and \u201can opportunity after all presented itself to them. And early in January 1739, they found themselves once more free to indulge in\u201d [10] their rebellious activities. This was done by the invasion of Nadir Shah. \u201cAt this time the country was thrown into great confusion, of which full advantage was taken by lawless people and particularly by the Sikhs.\u201d [11] \u201c<\/strong>On the retirement of the Persian invader the Sikhs continued their depredations and were the principal source of danger to the peace and prosperity of the province.\u201d [12]<\/p>\n

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This was the background which enabled the Sikhs to frequently molest Ahmad Shah during his passages through the Punjab. \u201c\u2019As soon as he had passed the Sutlej, the Sikhs began to plunder the stragglers from his camp, which he forbore to resent at that time, his army being loaded with plunder; however, to secure his camp from insult, he every night threw up a slight work round it, and in this manner he continued his march to the Attock, the Sikhs following him all the way.\u2019\u201d [13]<\/p>\n

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From Nadir Shah\u2019s invasion in 1739 to the close of Ahmad Shah\u2019s career, the Punjab had become the cockpit of struggle between various powers and had almost been converted into a no man\u2019s land. \u201cThe first struggle lay between Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Mughals, in which the former was victorious. Then ensued the conflict between Ahmad Shah and the Marathas, in which the latter were worsted. Now the Sikhs and the Ahmad Shah began to fight between themselves for the possession of the plains of the Punjab and ultimately Ahmad Shah was expelled from this province.\u201d [14]<\/p>\n

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Overall, we can say that during the eighteenth century the great empire of the Mughals after a \u201cglorious career\u201d of nearly two centuries had fallen into a gradual process of decay. \u201cThis confusion was further aggravated\u201d by invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah from the northwest \u201cleaving nothing in their wake but the smoke of burning homes, ravished humanity and the reek of innocent blood.\u201d [15]<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAhmad Shah Durrani displayed brilliant feats of military skill; but he failed in applying the same vigour of character in measures adopted to retain the country as done in securing it. The total gains of his grand successes therefore were not very much. He retired from the field leaving the Sikhs the undisputed masters of the Punjab. His son and successor Taimur Shah remained content with having recovered Multan. His grandson Shah Zaman came here with the determination to repeat the exploits of his grandfather and twice he seized Lahore. He, however, realized what a difficult task it was to retain possession of the capital; so he quitted this country never to disturb it again. Thus this struggle ended by the close of the century, and foreign invasions from the north-eat completely ceased.\u201d [16]<\/p>\n

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On his retirement from the Punjab in 1799, Shah Zaman confirmed Ranjit Singh in the possession of Lahore, who took Multan in 1818-19 and Peshawar in 1834. When he died in 1839, his Punjab \u2013 at one time Afghan territory — included Amritsar, Lahore, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Peshawar, Attock, Rawalpindi, Srinagar, Jammu and Kangra. He had secured himself on the east with the treaty of Amritsar in 1809 fixing \u201cthe line of the Sutlej as the boundary between Sikh and British influence; henceforward the Sikhs on the east side of the river, or the Cis-Sutlej states, were under British protection.\u201d [17]<\/p>\n

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In Afghanistan itself the dissolution came by battle and murder. \u201cDistrusting his own clan he leaned for support on Paindah Khan, chief of the Barakzai clan. Taimur, on his death in 1793, left twenty-three sons, while Paindah Khan in his turn left twenty-one in 1799. Such fruitlessness was too much for stability and amid the interlocking rivalries of the several brothers and the two families the Durrani empire perished.\u201d [18] In this struggle Dost Mohammad, Paindah Khan\u2019s son \u201cheld Ghazni and gradually rose to eminence during twenty years of struggle and intrigue. To Ghazni he added Jalalabad and in 1826 seized Kabul and proclaimed himself Amir.\u201d [19]<\/p>\n

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Just ten years after the nation of Afghanistan began taking shape in 1747, an apparently small but historically very significant battle took place in India between the British and the Muslim Nawab of Bengal. The Nawab was defeated and the nawabship of Bengal came under the control of the British. The British were the masters of their first territorial possession in India. The rise of the British Power in India had begun. Overall, the nawab represented the decaying Muslim ruling classes in India from which after about 150 years, with British encouragement, came out the All India Muslim League \u2013 the \u2018fruit\u2019 of Muslim decay. Never able to stand to confront the rising foreign power, they accepted the British supremacy in stages. And by 1818 the British were supreme in India.<\/p>\n

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Therefore, we can say that when Afghans started their nationhood, the Indian Muslims having lost their empire had started going under the British. It is worth pondering that these apparently opposite marches of Indian Muslims (later Pakistan) and Afghanistan have brought these two nations to practically the same ignominious end at the beginning of the twenty first century that their futures have become intertwined in adversity now. The easy way is to point out individual failures of leaders, which does not mean that the leaders did not fail.<\/p>\n

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Therefore, one can further say that during the past two and half centuries or so, the Indian Muslims\/future Pakistanis fell further under the British from an already fallen position, while Afghanistan fell from its independent position due to the British presence in India to which the Indian Muslims\/future Pakistanis were serving as props. Further, while Pakistan did not get real independence, because it never aspired for it; Afghanistan lost it, in spite of the fact that in the space of eighty years from 1839-1919, three Anglo-Afghan wars were fought as a result of Afghan refusal to accept British interference in their self-determination. In this way, perhaps, Afghanistan\u2019s fall has been comparatively much bigger.<\/p>\n

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The British had realized the strategic importance of Afghanistan as early as 1809 but it was not until the reign of Dost Muhammad (1826-63) that Britain began to be actively involved in Afghan affairs. It has been popular to say that the origins of this conflict could be traced to Anglo-Russian rivalry. And that, while the British regarded Russian advances in Central Asia as a serious threat to the existence of the British administration in India, Afghanistan was perceived as a buffer zone between the two European powers. By mid-19th century, Afghanistan had become the focal point of “the Great Game” – a race between Britain and Russia   for   gaining   geo-political   spheres   of   influence   in   Central   Asia.<\/p>\n

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In a setting when the western border of British India touched the Sutlej, Bahawalpur and Sindh, and there being no direct contact with Afghanistan \u2013 Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan intervening — the British invaded Afghanistan to replace Dost Muhammad with Shah Shuja. It was pure aggression. \u201cKandahar was taken in April 1839, Ghazni stormed in July, and Kabul entered in August.\u201d<\/p>\n

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[20] Dost Muhammad first a fugitive surrendered himself in November 1840. Afghans fought back and the occupation became impossible. \u201cOn 2 January 1842 a treaty of evacuation was signed. On 6 January 16,000 men marched out of the cantonments\u201d [21] in Kabul and on the 13th a lone survivor reached Jalalabad. The rest had fallen to the Afghans and the rigours of the winter. \u201cSuch a disaster had never previously befallen a British-Indian Army.\u201d [22]<\/p>\n

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But like a revengeful and more powerful man who will not spare his enemy even if he himself is on the wrong, the British retook Kabul on 16 September, got released European prisoners, blew up the great bazaar <\/em>of Kabul and on 12 October, evacuating the city, the army retired by way of Khyber pass. Interestingly as if representing Hindu India, the British took with them \u201cthe gates of Mahmud of Ghazni\u2019s tomb which were thought to be those which Mahmud had removed from the temple of Somnath in Gujarat in 1025. In fact they were of a common pattern and later date.\u201d [23] The move seems to placate soldiers of the predominantly Hindu army of the East India Company.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDost Muhammad was now allowed to return to his country. He soon reasserted his authority and died in 1863, at the age of eighty, still in possession of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

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[24] The passivity of Russia showed that what the British called counteracting \u201cRussian advances\u201d in Afghanistan was the excuse, the saleable deceptive political slogan, which looked protective of what was already British in India. In fact, it was British imperialism\u2019s appetite for colonization and subjugation of other nations, which was at work.<\/p>\n

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The British concluded a treaty of friendship with Afghanistan in 1855. \u201cIn 1856 the Persians occupied Herat, then controlled by Dost Muhammad. Afghanistan was now a friendly country and a force was accordingly sent to the Persian Gulf, which induced the Persians to make peace and evacuate Heart in May. The incident was of importance because it cemented British Indo-Afghan friendship and helped to secure Afghan neutrality\u201d [25] during the mutiny which followed shortly afterward. Dost Muhammad refrained from capturing Peshawar which he had lost to Ranjit Singh in 1834. He finally captured Herat in 1863 and died a few days later at the age of eighty. There followed the war of succession and Dost Muhammad\u2019s third son Sher Ali finally defeated his rivals.<\/p>\n

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Now it was Sher Ali\u2019s turn to face the British. \u201cHe feared the British in refusing and his own subjects in accepting. He was between two fires. Early in 1877 he finally declined the British embassy.\u201d [26] In July 1878 a Russian general arrived in Kabul. The invasion followed. It was another pure British aggression against Afghanistan. \u201cThe usual successes brought about the flight of Sher Ali in ominous repetition of the events of 1838.\u201d [27] \u201cSher Ali died the following year and peace was made with his son Yaqub in May 1879.\u201d [28] \u201cBy the treaty Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi were assigned to British control, a resident was established at Kabul with agents elsewhere, and the Amir undertook to conduct his foreign relations in accordance with British advice. In return the British engaged to support Yaqub against aggression and pay Yaqub an annual subsidy of 6 lakhs <\/em>of rupees. It seemed that Afghanistan had now at last become an Indian protected state.\u201d [29] But within six weeks of his arrival in July the new envoy was murdered with his escort in a popular uprising. The massacre took place on September 3rd, 1879. This gave the British the pretext to bring their armies immediately to occupy Kabul (October) and, after the abdication of Amir Yaqub Khan, to assume direct control of the government of Kabul. General Roberts was in charge.\u201d [30]<\/p>\n

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Abdur Rahman, son of Sher Ali\u2019s brother and former rival Afzal Khan, \u201chad long been in Russian Turkistan and used by the Russians as a potential threat to exercise pressure on Sher Ali.\u201d [31] He was recognized in July 1880 as Amir of Kabul on the \u201cconditions of having \u2018no political relations with any foreign power except the English\u2019, and confirming the cession of Kurram, Sibi, and Pishin. In return the British promised an annual subsidy and abandoned the claim to post a resident at Kabul\u201d. [32] Conquering Kandahar from Ayub Khan for the amir, the British withdrew from Kabul and next year from Kandahar. Abdur Rahman died in 1901 and his son Habibullah assumed power without incident. It was during Abdur Rahman\u2019s rule that the border between British India and Afghanistan was agreed upon in 1893 and the famous Durand Line which is now the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was drawn.<\/p>\n

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Hibibullah permitted many refugees who under his father had been forced to leave the country, to return. They included the Tarzi family and that of the Musahiban, both of whom in later years would take prominent roles in the country\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

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After a bad start, the cause of which was the British \u201cdictatorial approach\u201d a new treaty was signed in 1905. And in 1907, Habibullah paid a long state visit to India. In the same year an Anglo-Russian convention was signed defining the respective spheres of influence of the two powers from Tibet through Afghanistan to Persia. In August 1914, Habibullah announced to remain neutral in the war, in spite of the fact that the Sultan of Turkey, Caliph for the Muslims had proclaimed jehad. For this the British were not thankful to him. Britain and Turkey were opponents in the First World War.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOn February 20, 1919, Habibullah was assassinated on a hunting trip. He had not declared a succession, but left his third son, Amanullah, in charge in Kabul. Because Amanullah controlled both the national treasury and the army, he was well situated to seize power. Within a few months, the new amir had gained the allegiance of most tribal leaders and established control over the cities.\u201d [33]  Amanullah came to power just as the entente between Russia and Britain broke<\/p>\n

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down following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Indian political situation was agitated with anti-British sentiments.<\/p>\n

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Within months, Amanullah proclaimed jehad and \u201csent his army to invade India\u201d, where the political situation had resulted in heavy demands for troops for internal security duties. \u201cAmanullah attacked the British in two thrusts, taking them by surprise. The Afghan forces achieved success in the early days of the war as Pashtun tribesmen on both sides of the border joined forces with them.\u201d [34] \u201cA completely new war made the situation desperate. British units were weak, short of reinforcements and fast losing men for demobilization; many of the regular units of the Indian Army were still in the Middle East.\u201d [35]<\/p>\n

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A look at the Indian, especially Punjab, scene here will be of much help. At the outbreak of First World War the government of India armed itself with a Defence of India Act, but it possessed in addition Regulation III of 1818. While these powers interfered with Congress Party\u2019s political work for home rule the government wanted even more powers against \u2018terrorism and revolutionary activity\u2019. Justice Rowlatt\u2019s recommendations were embodied in Bills in a matter of weeks. The war ended in November 1918. But the government continued with the Bills to retain emergency powers because the Defense of India Act would now lapse. \u201cThe Bills became law early in 1919 [March] against the vote of every non- official Indian in the Imperial Legislative Council.\u201d [36] \u201cAt this moment Mahatma Gandhi stepped forward into leadership. He organized hartals <\/em>in protest against the Rowlatt Acts which speedily turned into riots in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lahore, and Amritsar. In Amritsar on 13 April a \u2018prohibited\u2019 meeting was held in the large enclosed space known as Jallianwallah Bagh, and was broken up without warning by a body of troops under General Dyer. The casualties were officially estimated at 379 killed and over 1,200 wounded. There was only one exit which the troops occupied. This was followed by the proclamation of martial law.\u201d [37]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Afghans opened the war on 6 May 1919 by attacking the western end of the Khaibar Pass. For three days, until the arrival of regular troops, the Khyber Rifles, the irregular militia, who held the forts up the pass, gave a good account of themselves but Khilafat agitators had been busy among them preaching the cause of a holy war, and when Afridi tribesmen, who had been watching events from the surrounding hills, joined the enemy, they deserted on a large scale. The corps was disbanded and was not reformed until 1945.\u201d [38]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe arrival of reinforcements from Peshawar had been delayed by the need to deal with a rising in the city which was a part of the same wave of unrest that had swept over the Punjab. The attack on Landi Kotal was repulsed with little difficulty.\u201d [39]<\/p>\n

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\u201cA second Afghan army under General Nadir Khan moved into Khost and from there attacked the fort at Thal, at the south end of the Kurram valley. The army was repulsed and defeated by a relieving force under General Dyer, who had been in command at Amritsar. The garrison of Chitral in the far north had had no difficulty in beating off a small force that attacked them, and in the south the Quetta garrison crossed the frontier about Chaman and captured the Afghan fort of Spin Baldak.\u201d [40]<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile Nadir Khan\u2019s army was still in Khost, before moving to attack Thal, there was the possibility that his objective might be the post in the upper Tochi valley held by the North Waziristan militia, who could not be expected to hold out unsupported by regular troops \u2013 and there were no troops to send to help them. When the decision was taken to evacuate the garrison the Wazir elements deserted during the withdrawal, and there followed two anxious days at the headquarters of the militia at Miranshah. The Afridi platoons, who were also showing signs of restlessness, were sent away to Dera Ismail Khan, but the remainder of the Corps remained loyal to render useful service during the trouble of the ensuing twelve months.\u201d [41]  <\/p>\n

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\u201cSimilar action had to be taken at Wana, the headquarters of the South Waziristan militia, where the British officers led out the loyal elements by way of Zhob valley. There was nothing left on which to keep the corps in existence, and it was not re-raised until three years later.\u201d [42]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe tribesmen, richer by two thousand rifles and nearly a million rounds of small arms ammunition, saw the withdrawal as a sign of weakness, presaging a complete withdrawal from Waziristan, if not to beyond the Indus; and they were only too ready to listen to intrigues and encouragement directed at them by Amanullah\u2019s agents. Waziristan lapsed into a state of anarchy, leading directly to the bitter fighting that began in November 1919 and went on for two years.\u201d [43]<\/p>\n

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And overall, the British \u201cplaced a hundred and forty thousand men on the frontier, and in eight days, at one of the hottest seasons of the year, defeated the main thrust of the enemy. The situation was now much as it had been at the end of the first stage of the Second Afghan War; the British had defeated their enemy in battle but had failed to impress the fact on the Afghan people and it was a very truculent party of delegates who arrived at Rawalpindi to discuss a treaty of peace. [44]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe advent of Amanullah\u2019s rule inaugurated an extraordinary and arguably long overdue stage, making a watershed in the quest by Amanullah, Mahmud Tarzi and their \u2018Young Afghan\u2019 followers for reforms, independence and statehood. The politics of gradual change and development pursued in fits and starts by earlier Afghan rulers gave way to sustained efforts to initiate a radical process of change, so as to place Afghanistan in the ranks of modern states as quickly as possible.\u201d [45]<\/p>\n

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\u201cAmanullah’s ten years of reign initiated a period of dramatic change in Afghanistan in both foreign and domestic politics. Starting in May 1919 when he won complete independence in the month-long Third Anglo-Afghan War with Britain, Amanullah altered foreign policy in his new relations with external powers and transformed domestic politics with his social, political, and economic reforms. Although his reign ended abruptly, he achieved some notable successes, and his efforts failed as much due to the centripetal forces of tribal Afghanistan and the machinations of Russia and Britain as to any political folly on his part.\u201d [46]<\/p>\n

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\u201cBritain virtually dictated the terms of the 1919 Rawalpindi Agreement, a temporary armistice that provided, somewhat ambiguously, for Afghan self- determination in foreign affairs. Before final negotiations were concluded in 1921, however, Afghanistan had already begun to establish its own foreign policy, including diplomatic relations with the new government in the Soviet Union in 1919. During the 1920s, Afghanistan established diplomatic relations with most major countries. \u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn May 1921, the Afghans and the Soviets signed a Treaty of Friendship, Afghanistan’s first international agreement since gaining full independence in 1919. The Soviets provided Amanullah with aid in the form of cash, technology, and military equipment. Despite this, Amanullah grew increasingly disillusioned with the Soviets, especially as he witnessed the widening oppression of his fellow Muslims across the border.\u201d [47]<\/p>\n

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Obviously all this could not have endeared Amanullah to the British whose dislike of him \u201cseemingly equaled their aversion to the Bolsheviks. They found in Amanullah\u2019s nationalist militancy serious vulnerability to Bolshevik influence. Another British concern related to Amanullah\u2019s Islamist rhetoric that permeated his anti-British campaign, adding to, and amplifying, the broad anti-colonial and pro-independence agitation then gaining momentum in India and, indeed, the region as a whole.\u201d [48]<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnglo-Afghan relations soured over British fear of an Afghan-Soviet friendship, especially with the introduction of a few Soviet planes into Afghanistan. British unease increased when Amanullah maintained contacts with Indian nationalists and gave them asylum in Kabul, and also when he sought to stir up unrest among the Pashtun tribes across the border. The British responded by refusing to address Amanullah as \u2018Your Majesty\u2019, and imposing restrictions on the transit of goods through India.\u201d [49] It is generally believed that \u201cif fully enacted, Amanullah’s reforms would have totally transformed Afghanistan. Most of his proposals, however, died with his abdication.\u201d [50] But the British who claimed to be the torch-bearers of civilization did not rest until Amanullah was overthrown.<\/p>\n

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The man who seized Kabul from the faltering hands of Amanullah is usually described by historians as a Tajik bandit. \u201cThe new Afghan ruler called himself Habibullah Khan, but he was called by others Bacha-i Saqqao (Son of the Water Carrier). A deserter from the Afghan army, he had worked in Peshawar as a tea seller and then served 11 months in prison for housebreaking. He had participated in the Khost rebellion of 1924 and then had become a highwayman. Although Bacha-i Saqqao robbed Afghan officials and the wealthy, he was generous to the poor. His attack on Kabul was shrewdly timed, following the Shinwari Rebellion and the defection of much of the army.\u201d [51]<\/p>\n

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Habibullah Kalakani was in the British \u201cPeshawar prison in April 1928\u201d and the duration of his \u201cimprisonment was for three years\u201d. However, strangely, three months after this, he was seen around Kabul in the summer of 1928 \u201ccorresponding to the time of returning of Amanullah Khan from Europe, and committing robbery and killing people\u201d, \u201cuntil his attack upon Kabul.\u201d \u201cHis name and his\u201d \u201ccurious deeds once in a while were published in the home\u201d as well as \u201cforeign papers.\u201d [52]<\/p>\n

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It seems the British wanted to insult Amanullah and his legacy by putting such an unusual character in power in Kabul. Obviously this was their stop gap arrangement as they had already decided to hand over Afghanistan to the long tested pro-British \u2018Musahiban\u2019 family.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUsually it is said that he probably tried to do too much and too fast, as some tribal chiefs, landlords, religious leaders, and elements of the army rose up against him. However, since he was strongly challenging and negating the importance of the two empires, particularly the British, he could not implement his plans. Conventional wisdom holds that a tribal revolt that had full support of the British\u201d [rather planned and executed by them] \u201cand grew out of opposition to reform programs overthrew Amanullah. Thus, the King, due to his \u2018extreme radicalism\u2019 in Afghan terms, in 1929 faced with overwhelming armed opposition and abdicated the throne to his oldest brother, Inayatullah, who ruled for only three days. In January 1929 Kabul fell to forces led by Habibullah Kalakani<\/em>; whereas Amanullah Khan, after failed attempts to regain the throne, crossed into India and went into exile first in Italy and then later remained in Switzerland until his death in 1960. It is widely believed that Afghanistan paid heavy price for its independence in terms of institutional, social, political and economic underdevelopment, as well as losing a capable leader like Amanullah Khan, due<\/p>\n

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to the British conspiracy pushed through religious leaders\u201d and Mohammed Nadir Khan who \u201cin October 1929 with British money and arms and support of southern Pashtun tribes entered Kabul  and declared himself as the new King.\u201d [53]<\/p>\n

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I have dealt with this topic until the overthrow of Amanullah. What is the conclusion? If you have gone through the above pages, I do not think oneness of the region is questionable anywhere. And irrespective of the fact that at any time in history who was fighting whom, the region comprising today\u2019s Pakistan and Afghanistan and beyond, in particular today\u2019s Northern India, was clearly the stage of historical processes; with reference to Afghanistan third battle of Panipat being one of them, for example. This affected the region and its people as a whole. And consequently the people got mixed. Add to this the turmoil through which the region passed due to  Soviet and American interventions and the dislocation of the people on a very large scale. The result has been that the people got mixed even more. Whatever the political manipulators do, this is the hard fact. With this background if today\u2019s compulsions demand unity of our region, I believe the Durand Line should be perhaps the weakest line to prevent that. \u25a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Durand Line as if it doesn\u2019t exist by Manzoor Ahmed Manzoor (Written before 2009, updated 16-9-2023; presently references not available) Looking ahead, neither Taliban of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,14,19,12,15,16,11,13],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-afghanistan","tag-allahs-revenge-on-urdu-party","tag-durand-line","tag-latest-article","tag-manzoor-ahmed-manzoor","tag-pakistan-india","tag-politicial-party","tag-urdu-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manzoorahmedmanzoor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}