1880
Two important questions--A Ruler required--News of Abdur Rahman Khan
--Abdur Rahman in Afghan-Turkestan--Overtures made to Abdur Rahman
The outlook in Afghanistan on the 1st January, 1880, was fairly
satisfactory; the tidings of the defeat and dispersion of the
tribesmen had spread far and wide, and had apparently had the effect
of tranquillizing the country even in remote Kandahar, where the
people had been greatly excited by the news of our retiring from
Sherpur, and by the exaggerated reports of their countrymen's success.
No complications now existed anywhere, and preparations were commenced
for Sir Donald Stewart's force in southern Afghanistan to move
towards Ghazni, in anticipation of the carrying out of a complete and
connected scheme[1] for the pacification of the country, and an early
withdrawal from northern Afghanistan. No withdrawal, however, would be
possible until durable foundations had been laid for the future
safety of the Indian frontier, and reliable guarantees given for the
continued good behaviour of India's Afghan neighbours.
The two questions, therefore, which chiefly exercised the minds of
people in authority, both in England and in India, with regard to
Afghan affairs were, What was to be done with Afghanistan now we had
got it? and, Who could be set up as Ruler with any chance of being
able to hold his own?
The second question depended a good deal on the decision which might
be arrived at with regard to the first, for the selection of a Ruler
could hardly be considered until it had been determined whether the
several provinces of Afghanistan were to be again formed into one
kingdom, or whether the political scheme for the future government of
the country should be based on the separation of the several States.
I myself had come to the conclusion, after much deliberation and
anxious thought, that the latter course was the least dangerous for us
to adopt. Disintegration had been the normal condition of Afghanistan,
except for a short period which ended as far back as 1818. Dost
Mahomed was the first since that time to attempt its unification, and
it took him (the strongest Amir of the century) eight years after his
restoration to establish his supremacy over Afghan-Turkestan, fourteen
years before Kandahar acknowledged his authority, and twenty-one years
ere he got possession of Herat, a consummation which was achieved only
just before his death. His successor, Sher Ali, was five years making
himself master of Afghanistan, and he could never have attained that
position but for the material assistance he received from us. I felt
it would be in the future as it had been in the past, and that there
would always be the danger of a Ruler, made supreme by the aid of our
money and our arms, turning against us for some supposed grievance, or
at the instigation of a foreign Power, as had happened with Sher Ali.
A strong, united Afghanistan was very desirable, no doubt, could we
be certain that its interests and ours would always remain identical;
but, in addition to the chance of its strength and unity being used
against us, there was the certainty that, even if the man we might
choose as Amir were to remain perfectly loyal, at his death Afghan
history would repeat itself; the succession to the throne would be
disputed, and the unification would have to begin all over again. For
these reasons I had no hesitation in giving it as my opinion that
Afghanistan should be disintegrated, and that we should not again
attempt to place the whole country under any one Sovereign.
My views must have commended themselves to the Government of India,
for in their despatch to the Secretary of State, dated 7th January,
1880, they indicated them as the line of policy they proposed to adopt
in pursuance of the object they had at heart, viz., the safety of the
Indian Empire and the tranquillity of its northern frontier; and in
the communication to myself, conveying their idea of the general
principles upon which the permanent settlement of Afghanistan should
be based, the Foreign Secretary wrote that all arrangements for
the establishment of a durable Government at Kabul depended on the
selection of a suitable Ruler for that province; and that, as it was
essential to clear away any apprehension that the British Government
contemplated territorial annexation, which might be caused by a
prolonged interregnum, it would be very advantageous if one of the
principal Sirdars, qualified by his family connexions, his local
influence, and his personal following, could be selected as the Ruler
of the Kabul State.
There was another very strong reason why the Government of India
should wish to find some one to whom the administration of the country
could safely be made over. The first warning notes of a General
Election were heard in India early in January. Afghan affairs were
being made a party question, and the policy of the Beaconsfield
Government with regard to them was being severely and adversely
criticized. Lord Lytton was, therefore, most anxious that a definite
conclusion should be arrived at as to the administration of
Afghanistan, and a period put to our occupation of the northern
province before the meeting of Parliament should take place.
The difficulty was to find the right man. Abdur Rahman, who I had
reason to believe would be acceptable to the army, was far away, I
could not find out where, and I could think of no one else at all
suitable. Under the circumstances, I deemed it advisable to open
negotiations with the several leaders of the late combination against
us, who were congregated at Ghazni, and had with them the young
Heir-apparent, Musa Khan. In the middle of January I had received two
communications from these people, one ostensibly written by Musa Khan
himself, the other signed by seventy of the most influential
chiefs; the tenor of both was the same; they demanded Yakub Khan's
restoration, and asserted his innocence as to the massacre of the
Embassy. I replied that Yakub Khan's return was impossible, and that
they must consider his abdication final, as he himself had declared
that he wished it to be,[2] and a few days later I deputed the
Mustaufi[3] to visit Ghazni, in the hope that he might be able to
induce the leaders to make some more feasible suggestion for the
government of the country.
The Mustaufi had scarcely started, before what seemed to be a reliable
report reached me that Abdur Rahman was at Kanduz, on his way to
Badakhshan, and I immediately communicated this news to Lord Lytton.
A fortnight later Abdur Rahman's mother, who resided at Kandahar,
informed Sir Donald Stewart that Ayub Khan had received a letter from
her son, in answer to an offer from Ayub to join him at Balkh and
march with him against the British. In this letter Abdur Rahman had
replied that he would have nothing to do with any of Sher Ali's
family, who had deceived him and dealt with him in the same
treacherous manner that characterized Sher Ali's dealings with the
British; further, that he had no intention of opposing the British,
knowing full well he was not strong enough to do so; that he could not
leave Russian territory without the permission of the Russians, whose
pensioner he was; and that, even if he got that permission, he could
not come either into Turkestan or Kabul without an invitation from us,
but that, if he received such an invitation, he would obey it as an
order. He concluded by advising Ayub Khan to make his submission to
the British, as opposition was useless. Sir Donald Stewart telegraphed
the substance of this communication to the Foreign Secretary, adding
that Abdur Rahman's family were well disposed towards us, and that
there would be no difficulty in communicating with the Sirdar through
them.
In the meantime, I had been careful to acquaint the Government of
India with my failure to come to any conclusion with the Ghazni
faction as to the future government of the country, and the
hopelessness of finding anyone of sufficient strength of character to
set up as Ruler of Kabul; and I had suggested, failing a really strong
man, the alternative of letting the Afghans choose for themselves some
Ruler, other than Yakub Khan, and thus leave us free to evacuate the
country.
About this time Mr. Lyall, the Foreign Secretary, came to Kabul on
a visit to me, and Captain West Ridgeway[4] took the place of my
Political Secretary, Mr. Durand, who left me to join the Foreign
Office at Simla, Mr. (now Sir) Lepel Griffin, Secretary to the Punjab
Government, being appointed Chief of the political staff at Kabul.
Lyall told me that the Indian Government fully appreciated the
difficulty I was in about finding a Ruler for the province, and that,
unless Abdur Rahman could be brought within negotiable distance, the
alternative I had suggested would have to be acted upon.
Lord Lytton, however, was very sanguine about Abdur Rahman, and he
warned Mr. Griffin, before he started for Kabul, that the Sirdar's
letter to Ayub Khan indicated possibilities that might have the most
important bearing on the solution of the difficult problem to be dealt
with in northern Afghanistan. It was Lord Lytton's wish to place Abdur
Rahman on the throne of Kabul, or, at least, to afford him the best
opportunity of winning his own way to that position. The difficulty
was to get at him, in the first instance, and, in the second, to
convince him of our wish and power to help him; while a not unnatural
hesitation on the Sirdar's part to enter Afghanistan without Russia's
permission had to be considered.
Lord Lytton impressed upon Mr. Griffin the necessity for overcoming
these difficulties in time to enable us to withdraw from northern
Afghanistan in the early autumn at latest; and he desired Sir Oliver
St. John (Sir Donald Stewart's political officer, who was at that time
in Calcutta), immediately on his return to Kandahar, to communicate
with Abdur Rahman, through his mother, the Viceroy's willingness to
make him Ruler of Kabul and Turkestan, if he would accept the terms
offered to him without delay.
The Viceroy communicated his views to the Secretary of State in the
following telegram:
'Necessary to find without delay some Native authority to which we
can restore northern Afghanistan without risk of immediate anarchy
on our evacuation of Kabul not later than next autumn, and if
possible earlier. No prospect of finding in the country any man
strong enough for this purpose. I therefore advocate early public
recognition of Abdur Rahman as legitimate heir of Dost Mahomed,
and open deputation of Sirdars with British concurrence to offer
him throne of Afghanistan as sole means of saving the country from
anarchy. Do you approve?'
Lord Cranbrook's reply was as follows:
'Assuming that Abdur Rahman is acceptable to the country, and that
he would be content with northern Afghanistan, it is desirable to
support him at Kabul; the more spontaneous any advances to him
on the part of the Sirdars, and the less appearance of British
influence, the better. But where is he? And how do you propose
to learn his wishes and intentions? If invited by Chiefs, every
inducement to bring him to Kabul should be then held out. Public
recognition should not precede, but follow, his adoption by
Sirdars, and his acceptance of the position.'
By the end of March authentic intelligence was received that
Abdur Rahman had made himself master of Afghan-Turkestan, and was
corresponding with the representative Sirdars at Kabul. It seemed,
therefore, that the time had arrived when distinct overtures might
be made to Abdur Rahman; accordingly, on the 1st April Mr. Griffin
addressed to him the following letter:
'It has become known that you have entered Afghanistan, and
consequently this letter is sent you by a confidential messenger,
in order that you may submit to the British officers at Kabul
any representations that you may desire to make to the British
Government with regard to your object in entering Afghanistan.'
Abdur Rahman, in his friendly but guarded reply,[5] expressed in
general terms his hope of being recognized as Amir. He greatly
desired, he wrote, the friendship of the British, and their assistance
in restoring peace and order to Afghanistan; but at the same time,
he hinted that his obligations to the Russian Government for the
hospitality they had extended to him placed him in some doubt as to
the terms upon which our friendship might be accorded to him, and
while he expressed a desire for the permanent establishment of
Afghanistan, with our assistance and sympathy, he let it be understood
that he wished to consider himself under the protection of Russia as
well as of Great Britain.
In a verbal message, however, he added that he was ready to cross the
Hindu Kush to discuss matters with our officers, and he begged that
he might be furnished with information as to the 'nature of our
friendship' and 'its conditions.'
In answer, Mr. Griffin was directed to inform Abdur Rahman that the
relations of Afghanistan to the British and Russian Empires was a
subject the Government of India must decline to discuss with him, and
to explain that their declared determination had been the exclusion
of foreign influence and interference from Afghanistan, a cardinal
condition 'which had at all times and under all circumstances been
deemed essential for the permanent security of Her Majesty's Indian
Empire,' a condition, moreover, which had always been accepted by the
Government of the Czar, which had repeatedly renewed those assurances,
solemnly given to Her Majesty's Ministers, that 'Russia considered
Afghanistan as entirely beyond the sphere of her influence.'[6]
Early in April the Mustaufi (whom, it will be remembered, I had sent
to Ghazni to communicate with the Chiefs, and ascertain their ideas
and desires as to the future government of Kabul) returned without
having achieved much success. He had persuaded some of the leading men
to accompany him as far as Maidan, whence a few representatives came
on to Kabul as bearers of a document signed by Mahomed Jan, twelve
other Sirdars, and 189 influential tribesmen, setting forth their
views and wishes; but as these were all based upon the restoration of
Yakub Khan, their proposals could not be entertained.
On the 13th April I held a durbar, at which I received this
deputation; all the Sirdars, Chiefs, and _maliks_ of Kabul and many
Hazaras being present. Mr. Griffin, on the part of the Government,
told them that Yakub Khan could not be allowed to return to
Afghanistan, but that the names of any Sirdars, approved of by a large
proportion of the people for the Amirship, would be laid before the
Viceroy; that there was no intention of annexing Afghanistan, and
that there would be no occupation of any places except such as were
necessary for the safety of our Indian frontier. They were further
informed that the British army would be withdrawn as soon as the
country had settled down peacefully and an Amir, amicably disposed
towards us, had been selected; but that Kandahar would not again be
united to Kabul.
The effect produced was good. The deputation was greatly disappointed
that Yakub Khan was not to be permitted to return, but all present
felt that they had received a definite reply.
[Footnote 1: In reply to a reference made to me on the subject,
I represented that, before operations could be undertaken on so
extensive a scale as was proposed, it would be necessary to reinforce
the Kabul garrison and the several posts on the Kyber line by:
One battery of Horse or Field Artillery.
One Heavy battery.
One Mountain battery.
A detachment of Garrison Artillery.
A brigade of Cavalry.
Three companies of Sappers and Miners.
Two regiments of British Infantry.
Six regiments of Native Infantry.
Drafts sufficient to raise each Infantry regiment at
Kabul to 800 men.
This was agreed to; the reinforcements were sent up by degrees, and
a second division was formed at Kabul, to the command of which
Major-General J. Ross,[*] C.B., was appointed.]
[Note *: Now General Sir John Ross, G.C.B.]
[Footnote 2: As the deportation of Yakub Khan was believed to be one
of the chief causes of recent disturbances, and as a powerful party in
the country still looked forward to having him back as their Ruler, I
was directed to make it clear to his adherents that the ex-Amir would
never be allowed to return to Afghanistan, and that his abdication
must be, as he himself at the time wished it to be, considered
irrevocable. In support of this decision, I was informed that the
unanimous verdict of guilty of murder, recorded against Yakub Khan
by Colonel Macgregor's Commission, was substantially endorsed by the
Chief Justice of Calcutta and the Advocate-General; and that, although
other authorities who had considered the evidence did not quite go so
far as these two high legal functionaries, the general conclusion
come to was that, if the Amir did not connive at the massacre of the
Mission, he made no attempt whatever to interpose on its behalf,
and that his whole conduct on that occasion betrayed a culpable
indifference to the fate of Sir Louis Cavagnari and his companions,
and a total disregard of the solemn obligation which he had contracted
with the British Government.]
[Footnote 3: I had released the Mustaufi from confinement when the
general amnesty was published on the 26th December, and he had
subsequently been usefully employed assisting the political officers
in revenue matters. I did not suppose that he had any great love for
the British, but he was anxious to see us out of the country, and was
wise enough to know that no armed opposition could effect his purpose,
and that it could only be accomplished by the establishment of a
stable government, under a Ruler that we could accept.]
[Footnote 4: Now Colonel Sir West Ridgeway, K.C.B.]
[Footnote 5: Abdur Rahman's letter is given in the Appendix.] (See
Appendix VIII.)
[Footnote 6: This letter from the Foreign Secretary to Mr. Griffin is
given in full in the Appendix. (Appendix IX.)]
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