ADMINISTRATION, LAWS AND REVENUE
The task which presented itself to Abdur Rahman upon his accession to
the throne, was of such magnitude that few Asiatic potentates would
have ventured to have coped with it. The gravest confusion prevailed
in every department of political, civil and military administration,
while the supremacy of the Amir of Kabul received no very definite
recognition from the Sirdars who were ruling over the several tribes
which together made up the State. Under Dost Mahommed, as also in the
reign of Shir Ali, the Sirdars, jealous, ambitious and turbulent,
governed in their respective districts each after his own fashion. The
controlling authority of the Amir of Kabul was not infrequently defied;
and as no community of interests existed between Kabul and the khanates
there was no enduring form of government. Everything depended upon
the pleasure of chiefs who, regulated by no law, were always ready to
indulge in hostilities for their own gratification. The results of such
a system of government are illustrated by the civil war of 1863-1869,
which distinguished the early years of Shir Ali’s reign, the final
triumph of that ruler securing the paramountcy of the Amir of Kabul
throughout Afghanistan. While Shir Ali founded a certain despotic
sovereignty over Afghanistan, it was Abdur Rahman who, by establishing
a military autocracy, guaranteed the absolutism of the Amir. The
continuation of such a form of government is possible only so long as
the Amir is able to rely upon the unswerving loyalty of his troops.
But until the moment of disunion arrives the ruler of Afghanistan is a
dictator, whose absolute authority is limited only by the calculations
which prudence dictates. Religion is the one counterpoise to his
authority and the growing influence of the priests--an influence which
has increased decidedly since the accession of Habib Ullah--represents
the sole quarter from which might arise disturbing elements.
Under Abdur Rahman the power of the priests was held in check; his
rugged independence did not permit him to brook, even covertly, the
exercise of priestly authority. The Church restrained, he was able
to proceed with the work of curtailing the rights and privileges
of the chiefs who, at one and the same time, had been a source of
strength or of danger to his predecessors. Prompt to defend the
authority of the Amir of Kabul when relations were cemented by a good
understanding and accustomed to a certain degree to participate in
the affairs of government, the tribal chiefs refused to resign any
measure of their authority when such action threatened to precipitate
the disappearance of their powers. Dost Mahommed did not attempt to
interfere with the Sirdars; Shir Ali introduced into their position
no perceptible modification. The tribal system was in full swing at
the time when Abdur Rahman ascended the throne. At that moment each
tribe together with its sub-divisions, according to its numerical
force and territorial dimensions, supported one or more of the
reigning chiefs. These leaders, whose existence may be compared with
that enjoyed by the dukes and barons of the Middle Ages in France,
occupied so great a position in the State that the enlistment of their
services upon behalf of the throne carried with it a weight, always
sufficient to maintain the balance of the scales in favour of the ruler
of Kabul. Nevertheless, in order to fortify his own position, Abdur
Rahman decided to suppress them. One by one they were brought under
subjection, the gradual circumscription of their authority paving the
way to the subsequent solidarity which distinguished his own position.
From this step he proceeded to fasten upon the remains of the old
system a new administration, purging the Augean stable and curbing the
rights of the chiefs no less than the licence of the individual.
Hitherto in Afghanistan freedom of movement had been permitted. There
was nothing to prevent the entire population of a village from crossing
the border if the majority of its elders were so inclined. Abdur Rahman
checked this liberty, instituting a system which allowed none but the
authorised to move between the great centres of the country or to
venture beyond its frontiers. It is not to be supposed that he was able
to maintain free from abuse his new order of government. Spoliation
and embezzlement had existed so long in Afghanistan that recourse to
them had become second nature to every functionary. Each official,
whether he were the product of the new order or a remnant of the old,
was corrupt and regarded abuse of office as the customary symbol of
administrative power. The existence of such a practice necessarily
threw into confusion any attempt at reform; and, although Abdur Rahman
produced much elaborate machinery, departmental disorders continued
unabated. In Kabul, in spite of many high-sounding titles, the methods
of the new order were still regulated by the principles of the old.
To the ignorant or to the zealous this condition of affairs may
perhaps be disappointing; but in any Oriental government the first and
only thought of the official classes is the enhancement of their own
interests and the enrichment of their private coffers. Abdur Rahman
put a stop to the sale of public offices, but he could not control the
disbursement and acceptance of bribes by which such offices can be
awarded; and, from the highest to the lowest, while success favours
the delinquent, his crime attracts no attention so long as he may
distribute his favours. Even under Abdur Rahman it was rarely that
officials of importance were brought to book, while to-day the Throne
itself visits the avaricious by exacting the repletion of its privy
purse at the expense of justice.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE EMPEROR BABER NEAR KABUL]
It is of course to the credit of Abdur Rahman that he began his task at
the beginning. At the time of his succession the system of government
was so involved that the entire machinery of the civil administration
was carried on by a staff of ten clerks, who were controlled by an
official combining within himself the functions of every executive
officer.[31] There were no public offices and the seat of government
was the bedroom of this man. There were no books; the statements
of expenditure and the records of government business were entered
upon small slips of paper, 8 inches long and 6 inches wide, each
sheet containing the briefest abstract of the matter with which it
was concerned. If any reference were required it frequently happened
that thousands of these pages had to be examined. In order to remedy
this system of keeping records Abdur Rahman introduced ledgers and
record books, the defacement of which was an offence punishable by
the amputation of the fingers. From this, in due course, he proceeded
to create a military and civil administration. Under military
administration, in addition to the armed forces of the army, militia
and levies, he included the departments concerned with the manufacture
of every variety of war material and the industries associated with
each. All workmen employed in these concerns and all foreigners, whose
services were retained by the Government, were brought within the
supervision of the military bureau. Upon the military side, too, he
arranged that pay-sheets should be honoured monthly, while treasury
disbursements, which were incorporated in the revenue branch of the
civil department, were made annually or, in certain exceptions,
bi-yearly.
The civil administration, as ordained by Abdur Rahman, still
continues. It embraces the Boards of Treasury and Trade, the Bureaux
of Justice and Police, the Offices of Records, Public Works, Posts
and Communications. The Departments of Education and Medicine are a
separate organisation. The Board of Treasury is divided into four
departments of Revenue and Expenditure--northern, southern, eastern
and western--in connection with which there are the State Treasury and
the Private Treasury. The State Treasury is controlled by the State
Treasurer and the Councillors of the Exchequer, who render accounts
to an Accountant-General. Statements of revenue and expenditure are
receipted daily and every evening an abstract, showing the transactions
of the day and countersigned by the heads of the departments concerned,
is submitted to the Amir. The Private Treasury is occupied solely with
the income and monies of the Royal Family. Each Treasury is divided
into two branches, the one being set aside for payments in cash and the
other for the reception of transactions in kind. The Board of Trade
includes the Caravan Department and the Customs House Department.
Branches of these are established in the larger centres and appeals
from them pass through the chief bureau in Kabul, where they are
referred to the office of the Financial Commissioner, Mirza Shah Beg
Khan, for presentation to the Amir when the necessity arises.
Government is conducted through the agency of a Supreme Council and a
General Assembly drawn from three classes. At present these are certain
Sirdars who take their seats as members of the Royal Clan; the Khans,
who are representatives of the country; and the Mullahs, who are the
representatives of the Mahommedan religion. Abdur Rahman modified in
some degree the rights and privileges of the Sirdars in connection
with the Royal Durbars; nowadays only those who are the descendants
of the Amir Dost Mahommed Khan and his brothers, or who have received
the specific sanction of the Throne to bear the title, may occupy a
place at them. These three classes are divided into two parties. One of
them is known as the Durbar Shahi or the Supreme Council; the other is
called the Khawanin Mulkhi or General Assembly. These representatives
are convoked by a call from the Aishak Akasee, whose position
resembles that held by the Lord Chamberlain in England. It is his duty
to summon all the members of the Supreme Council and to arrange their
seats according to the order of their merit. He has another subordinate
officer, who is called Omla Bashi, who notifies the General Assembly
and takes a receipt for the delivery of the notices of meeting. On
their arrival outside the Durbar Hall councillors are received at the
gate by another officer, called Kabchi Bashi, who is a deputy of the
Aishak Akasee. The Kabchi Bashi introduces members of the General
Assembly to the Aishak Akasee.
Upon the attendance of these three Estates of the Realm the Amir reads
a proclamation or makes a speech on the subjects which are claiming
the attention of the meeting and at the same time asks their opinion.
This usually results in the expression of the same views as those held
by the Amir, as this assembly has neither the capacity nor the courage
to detect anything wrong in the law or policy of their sovereign.
Another mode of introducing an alteration of the law is that some
member or members of this assembly may lay a petition before the Amir,
to which sanction may be given. The most important factor in securing
any change, consists in the daily reports from the magistrates,
the governors, the ecclesiastical and criminal courts, the revenue
department and other offices of the Government, who forward their
decisions for approval and sanction, or send in their petitions or the
petitions of tribes in the country requesting the Amir to sign a new
ordinance. If the Amir forms a favourable opinion upon these documents
they are enrolled in the Record Office of the Government.
The Amir’s Supreme Council or Cabinet differs from the English Cabinet
in that there is no Prime Minister and that the Cabinet cannot give any
advice to the Crown without being asked to do so. The Amir is seldom
absent from his Council, but its assemblage simply depends on the
pleasure of the Crown. If the presence of any member is unpopular in
the country, the people have the power to protest against it.
The following officials constitute the Cabinet:[32] the Aishak Akasee;
Lord of the Seal; Chief Secretary and several other secretaries; the
military officials of the bodyguard; Lord Treasurer of the private
treasury of the Sovereign; Secretary of State for War; Secretaries
of State for the North, South, East and West; Postmaster-General;
Commander-in-Chief or his deputy; Master of the Horse; Kotwal or Home
Secretary; Quartermaster-General; Accountant-General; Groom of the
Bed-chamber; Superintendent of the Magazines; Heads of the Board of
Trade and of the Board of Education. In addition, there are sometimes
those other officials or chiefs who may be sufficiently in the
confidence of the Amir to be admitted to the meetings.
[Illustration: SPINNING COTTON]
The following division of business is usually observed: Monday and
Thursday are devoted to postal despatches and to the Exchequer; Tuesday
is set aside for consideration of military cases and the affairs of the
War Office; Wednesday is devoted to the affairs of the whole kingdom
when public as well as private Durbars are held; Friday is observed as
a religious holiday; on Saturday the Amir sits as a Court of Appeal and
Supreme Court of Justice; Sunday is devoted to the inspection of the
army, magazines, war materials, manufactories, industries and various
miscellaneous matters.
The laws of Afghanistan at the present day may be placed under three
headings:
(1) Islamic laws.
(2) Those created by the Amir, which are based upon Islamic laws,
the opinions of the people and the personal views of Habib
Ullah as well as of his father, the late Amir.
(3) Tribal laws.
In criminal, revenue and political law the procedure was devised by
Abdur Rahman; but for the rest, Islamic law is the general practice.
The cases decided by the Amir himself are brought under two headings:
Firstly, he sits as a Supreme Court of Appeal; in which capacity he
hears and decides the appeals from all the various courts, whether
civil, criminal or ecclesiastical.
Secondly, there are some cases which he hears himself from the
beginning and decides himself, just as do the inferior courts.
Commonly it is understood that when the Amir sits as an original court
to hear cases which are not appeals from any other court, such cases
must be of great importance: such as political disputes, cases of high
treason, offences against the Throne and matters of Government revenue.
This is merely a theory, since any person who has even a trifling
matter in dispute can have his case decided by the Amir himself if he
fears that the subordinate Court is prejudiced; or if he chooses for
any other reason to go before the Amir in preference to going before
the subordinate Courts. It is in the pleasure of the Crown to refer
such a plaintiff to the subordinate Courts, unless the plaintiff can
prove that he has reason to believe that justice would not be equally
meted out in such a court.
The rule of Appeal, unlike that of England, is that the superior Court,
instead of being satisfied with the investigation of the subordinate
Court, takes the case as if it were a new one. New evidence, fresh
inquiries and investigations are made from the very beginning, as
though the case had never previously been tried.
(1) _Appeals._--These are brought before the Amir in the following ways:
Firstly, the various courts forward for his approval such judgments
as they consider of great importance and do not like to take upon
themselves the responsibility of deciding.
Secondly, the same Courts forward to the Amir for his opinion questions
on which there is no definitely laid down law by which to abide.
Thirdly, in cases where the spies of the Amir, who are supposed to be
everywhere, report to him that some kind of fraud or partiality had
been shown in a decision.
Fourthly, where a plaintiff or defendant is dissatisfied with the
judgment of any Court he can appeal to the Amir.
(2) _Court of First Instance._--Occasionally the Amir sits as a Court
of First Instance, when it is permitted to all persons to approach him
with grievances, disputes or claims as they would any other magistrate.
Whether it is an appeal or an original case, the modes of trial in
civil law are the same. The plaintiff brings his witnesses with him, if
it is necessary to have any witness at all, and the defendant brings
his witnesses also. Both sides are heard and the case decided upon the
spot, the inordinate delay which distinguishes judicial procedure in
England being avoided.
The various codes of law are so numerous that they would fill at least
a dozen bulky volumes. Every official, the holders of all offices,
great or small, in Afghanistan has a manual signed or sealed by the
Amir, on which he acts. Instructions are so minute, moreover, that it
is a common saying in Afghanistan that there is not a donkey-driver
in the country who does not possess a signature of the Amir to some
document, giving him the law which he is to obey. All classes are
amenable to the law, and in theory there is no exemption or special
laws--not even for the nearest relatives of the Amir, as was once
proved when a favourite wife of the late Abdur Rahman was ordered
by him to answer in the courts to the summons of a firm of Parsee
milliners. Judicial corruption, however, makes evasion of the law
neither difficult nor infrequent, and bribery is the cause of a general
miscarriage of justice.
The condition of the Criminal Law is singularly barbarous; and no
attempt, even upon paper or in theory, has been made to mitigate its
crude severity. There is no fixed limit for the various punishments,
and, although sentences of death need to be confirmed by the Amir,
torture is invariably applied in all cases of criminal procedure. The
instrument more generally used is known as the Fanah, a contrivance
not unlike the “boot.” There are many things in the Afghan code which
are susceptible of improvement for the whim of the Amir is law, and,
at best, he is no better than an amiable despot whose caprice demands
immediate realisation. In this, Afghanistan is far removed from the
condition of the native States of India and the territories of Bokhara,
where, if justice is also tempered with bribery and corruption, life
is at least respected until the innocent are proved to be guilty. Not
so in the Amir’s country, where men are still blown from guns and
penalties of equal brutality exacted for comparatively trivial offences.
Illustrations of the harshness of the law abound in Kabul itself.
It is a common spectacle to see prisoners, their ankles encircled
by steel bands, which are connected by a rod to a chain round their
waists, sitting by the wayside asking alms of passers-by. Under the
conditions which prevail in the Kabul prisons, unless the inmates
have money or friends who will interest themselves in their plight,
they are thrown upon the charity of the public for their means of
subsistence. Government provides nothing for them but bread and prison
quarters, where, chained and under close observation, they lead a life
of endless misery. Justice, too, is very slow-footed and expedition is
impossible until the officers of the Court, whose duty it is to bring
cases-in-waiting to the notice of the judge, have first been bribed.
Heavy tolls are levied by all officials for this service and, if the
payments are not forthcoming, the trial may never take place or it may
be protracted through several years. Even then, when prisoners have
been tried, their sentences pronounced and they are at the conclusion
of their terms of imprisonment, the rental charges for their use of the
prisons have still to be met. The system is iniquitous and imposes upon
poor captives the alternative of perpetual slavery, or the necessity
to cry for alms in the streets as they go to and from their work.
Employment in the workshops, the ordnance yards and upon the Government
buildings is the only description of labour with which the prisoners
are furnished. In a measure such work is popular among them, as it
affords opportunities for discussion with their friends and gives them
for a brief space somewhat greater liberty of movement. Their tasks
are of the hardest and roughest description, but they have a chance to
wash their clothes--even to take a bath in the canal which runs through
the factories. Sometimes, too, regular workmen distribute their food
among the prisoners or even present them with a few _pice_. But at all
times their fate is terrible and their existence in prison accompanied
by extreme privations. Again, if death is the order of their lot, it
is impossible to say whether it will be short, sharp and sudden, or
something a little lingering like the ends which befel a robber, and an
over-zealous student of political affairs, of whom Abdur Rahman made
such terrible examples.
The robber, the leader of a band of brigands whose exploits and
activity had won for the Lata Bund Devan an unenviable notoriety, was
captured by the police after many attempts, and repeated warnings.
The Amir, who had become exasperated at the robberies of the band,
determined to make a fitting example of their leader. Upon the
summit of the Lata Bund Pass, 8000 feet above sea-level, he erected
a flag-staff; from this he suspended an iron cage and in the cage he
placed the robber--where he left him, as an example! It is said in
Kabul that the fate of that highwayman determined the end of the robber
band. Certainly, since that day no further crimes of violence have been
committed in the pass.
The other was a student who, brought before Abdur Rahman, declared in
a state of unrepressed excitement that the Russians were advancing to
invade Afghanistan.
“The Russians are coming?” said the Amir with grim deliberation; “then
you shall be taken to the summit of yonder tower and shall have no food
till you see them arrive.”
The theory of Justice in all Eastern countries aims at punishing some
one person for every indictable misdemeanour. In China, in Japan,
in Korea and in Africa, too, the autocrat measures the peace of the
country-side by the moral effect of his standard of punishment. No
crime escapes its levy against the liberty of the subject, although
the criminal himself may abscond. A precisely similar state of affairs
prevails in Afghanistan where, in the event of the offender escaping,
the hostage satisfies the findings of the law. Liberty of movement,
therefore, is denied to every one in Kabul beyond a six-mile radius
measured from the Kabul police station. For permission to go beyond
this point it is necessary to obtain at a cost of three rupees a
_rahdari_ or road-pass and to leave Afghanistan without such a pass
is punishable with death. In point of fact, facilities are never
granted until hostages against the failure of the person to return
have been given. In the case of any one venturing to leave Afghanistan
and failing to come back, his property is at once confiscated, his
family is imprisoned and his more immediate surety is executed. Such
a fate befel the family of a soldier who was making a protracted
stay in India. Arrested and threatened with execution their release
was secured only by the man’s return and surrender, knowing when he
did so that he would be blown from a gun on the place of execution.
This was ultimately his fate. It is one so constantly meted out to
prisoners that, whenever the boom of the gun is heard in Kabul, only
those who are of the sternest disposition can suppress the sigh which
involuntarily escapes as the mournful sound falls upon the ears. There
are, of course, other ways of punishing the guilty than that of blowing
them from cannon. Yet the boom of a gun in Kabul only denotes one
of three things: the passing of the Amir, the mid-day hour, and the
release of a soul to Paradise from the horrors of the Kabul prisons.
In the city of Kabul the Amir does not give the enemies of law
and order a chance. The chief magistrate has become an object of
public execration and wholesome dread. His spies are believed to be
everywhere; and hardly a word can be spoken without its coming to
the ears of the Naib Kotwal and through him to the Amir himself. The
Kabul police code is curiously elaborate. It forbids evil speaking in
the streets. The vituperation of a Said (a reputed descendant of the
Prophet Mahommed through his daughter Fatima), of a man of learning
or of a civic elder renders the offender liable to twenty lashes and
a fine of fifty rupees. If the bad language is only aimed at a common
person ten lashes with a fine of ten rupees is the penalty provided.
Punishments are also laid down for dishonest tradesmen who cheat with
false weights or adulterate the food they sell, for the indecorous
bather, the gambler, the purveyor of charms; as also for persons who
misbehave in the mosque, forget to say their prayers or to observe
a fast day. The man who kisses some one else’s wife receives thirty
lashes and is sent to prison for further inquiry.
Careful directions are laid down in regard to administering the lash.
The instrument itself is made of three strips of camel, cow and sheep
skin, with a handle of olive wood. The stripes are laid on with pious
ejaculations and the police officer is exhorted to feel, if he cannot
show, sorrow for the wrong-doer, “since Mahommedans are all of one
flesh.” Special cognisance is taken of offences against religion. If
any free-thinking Kabuli omits to bend his head with due reverence at
the hour of prayer the police officer must at first remonstrate gently.
If the mild appeal fails, he must use harsh terms, such as “O foolish,
O stupid one.” In the event of continued obstinacy the stick is to be
applied; and, as a last resource, the Amir is to be informed. He--“will
do the rest.”
The departments for the administration of the Government in the
provinces are as follows:
(1) The Governor-General, the Governor together with the
Secretaries and Staffs.
Strictly speaking, there are no positive restrictions limiting and
separating the authority of any one official from that of another.
Cases go before any court to which the applicant may choose to take
them. As a rule the Governor-General of the province is the executive
head of all departments within his sphere and he is looked upon as a
Court of Appeal from the District Courts, which are presided over by
the District Governor or his subordinate officials. The main duty of
the Governor-General is to collect the revenues from the landowners and
to administer the province; of the District Governor, to settle the
disputes of landowners, to keep the peace in his district, to circulate
the Kabul proclamations and to forward from time to time any orders
which he may receive from his provincial heads. The chief provinces
are administered by Governors-General, the more important centres
by Governors and the smaller places by District Governors, District
Superintendents and Inspectors. Commanders-in-Chief are associated
with the Governors-General of provinces and military officers of
corresponding subordinate rank assist the civilian officials.
Governors, exercising full executive powers locally, report to their
Governors-in-Chief who, in turn, despatch a monthly report to Kabul.
(2) The Kazi (Judge of the Ecclesiastical Court) with his
subordinate.
The Ecclesiastical Court of the Kazi is looked upon as the highest
tribunal in the province and hence it is not limited to religious
subjects; all civil cases, whatever their nature, may be taken before
it. Generally speaking, business differences and religious disputes
are settled in the District Courts, cases concerning divorce, marriage
and inheritance passing before the Provincial Supreme Court. Cases
punishable by death seldom come within the jurisdiction of the
provincial courts. The Chief Judge of this court is called Kazi and his
subordinates are Muftis. Cases are decided by a majority.
(3) The Kotwal (Head of the Police Department) together with
the force of Police, Secretary and the officials of the
Passport Department.
The Kotwal exercises much greater authority in criminal cases than any
other criminal official whatever. He combines the duties of a District
Chief of Police and a judge of Petty Sessions, while he may determine
small criminal cases, forwarding the more serious to the capital. He
is also in charge of the local Intelligence Department and is in each
centre an official of whose tyranny, oppression and cruelty stories and
poems have been handed down from posterity.
(4) Kafila Bashi (an official of the Caravan Department) with
a Board of Commerce, a Revenue Office, Tax-Collector’s
Office, Treasury Office and a local military force.
The Kafila Bashi is an official who supplies transport to travellers;
in this respect he is responsible for the payment of all dues by
travellers, as well as for the treatment dealt out to the caravan
followers. He receives his commission from those who hire the animals
and renders an account of every transaction to the Government. All
expenses of this establishment are paid by the Government and the
balance passes into the District Treasury.
The Board of Commerce settles disputes between merchants. The President
of the Board presides over this court and its members are elected from
among the mercantile community, irrespective of religion.
The Revenue Office settles the accounts of the revenue and keeps a
record of the taxes which every landowner must pay annually to the
Government. The land revenue is now fixed at one-third of the produce
of the soil and is to be collected by the _lambardar_ of each village.
Associated with the Revenue Office are officers who register and copy
all documents issued in connection with the collection and expenditure
of revenue. Duties upon commerce are levied at the rate of 2½ per cent.
upon all exports and imports, all such monies passing direct into the
local treasury.
Abdur Rahman gave his closest attention to the revenue. One of his
earliest acts was to replace by tokens of his own the currency which
had existed under the Khans. Hitherto, the money in circulation in
Afghanistan had been represented by three varieties of rupees--the
Herat, the Kandahar and the Kabul which, although not really of
identical value, were reckoned at ten _shahis_. No gold tokens had
been struck by any of the dynasties reigning in the State, and the
gold coins which passed in the country were represented by the ducat
of Russia, the tilla of Bokhara and the toman of Persia. These coins
had been imported in the natural course of trade; but by a strange
coincidence the Persian token suffered a discount, while the Russian
and Bokharan coins enjoyed a premium of 10 per cent. There were certain
silver coins, also, which had been introduced by merchants from beyond
the borders. Among these were the silver kran from Persia and the
silver rupee from India, equally liable to the vagaries of exchange. In
detail, the currency of Afghanistan was as follows:
200 dinars = 1 abbassi.
500 dinars or 10 shahis = 1 rupee kham.
600 dinars or 12 shahis = 1 rupee silver.
20 rupees kham = 1 toman (about £2).
The dinar, the rupee kham and the toman figured, in the main, in
accounts, the table of the coins actually in circulation being as
follows:
3-5 pice (copper) = 1 shahi (silver).
2 shahis (silver) = 1 abbassi (silver).
2 abbassis (silver) = 1 jindek Herat (silver).
3 jindeks (silver) = 1 rupee Kandahar (silver).
2 rupees Kandahar (silver) = 1 rupee Kabul (silver).
1 jindek = 4_d._
1 rupee Kandahar = 1_s._
1 rupee Kabul = 2_s._
In order to re-establish the currency of the country upon a sound basis
Abdur Rahman opened a mint in Kabul. At the same time he re-organised
the methods of revenue collection, besides improving the channels
through which it was received.
The work of the mint was at first conducted by hand. It was not
until some years after he had ascended the throne that the late
Amir introduced minting machinery, at the same time requesting
the Government of India to loan the services of an Englishman to
superintend its erection. The official thus despatched was Mr.
McDermot, employed in the Calcutta mint; and under his supervision
Kabuli workmen learnt to cut the dies, to erect the stamps and to
strike off the coins. The capacity of the plant which was erected in
Kabul was limited to a silver and copper mintage of 100,000 coins a
day, made up of five and ten pice pieces, rupees, half-rupees and
third-rupees. In contradistinction to the rupees which had previously
been struck off at Kabul, each new rupee was worth only one shilling.
These coins bore upon their faces the inscription--a translation of a
title conferred upon Abdur Rahman by his people in 1896--“The Light of
the Nation and of Religion”; the reverse side bore his coat-of-arms.
Until this superscription was adopted, coins were engraved only with
the date and place of casting upon one side, and upon the reverse
the name of the ruler--“Cast at the Capital of Kabul: Amir Abdur
Rahman.” Since Habib Ullah’s accession Abdur Rahman’s coinage has been
superseded by a new issue bearing in Turkish characters the inscription
“Amir Habib Ullah Khan, Amir of Kabul, The Seeker of God’s help.” The
engraving on the obverse represents a mosque with pulpit and minarets,
encircled by rifles, standards, swords and cannon. Habib Ullah’s coins
are of lower standard to the previous issue; actual exchange against
Indian currency being:
R. A. P. R. A. P.
1 Kabuli rupee = 0 7 9 and 1 Kandahari rupee = 0 4 6
The Amir’s officials in levying duties maintain an arbitrary and wholly
fictitious rate of exchange under which
Indian. Indian.
R. A. P. R. A. P.
1 Kabuli rupee = 0 13 4 and 1 Kandahari rupee = 0 8 0
The income of Afghanistan has always been subject to serious
fluctuation. In 1839, at a moment when Kandahar, Herat, and Kabul were
separate territories, and there were ten rupees to the pound sterling,
the proceeds from each State were:
Herat 800,000 rupees = £80,000
Kandahar 800,000 ” = £80,000
Kabul 2,000,000 ” = £200,000
Nearly twenty years later, in 1857, during a conference with the
Governor-General of India at Peshawar, Dost Mahommed submitted an
estimate of his returns which, excluding a million rupees which had to
be disbursed to tribal chiefs, was as follows:
Kabul 2,222,000 rupees = £222,200
Kandahar 444,000 ” = £44,400
Turkestan 342,800 ” = £34,280
Supplementary sources 1,000,000 ” = £100,000
--------- --------
Total 4,008,800 ” = £400,880
While the receipts of Afghan Turkestan were incorporated with these
figures, the Herat territory was still an independent sphere and its
income on that account is not included. A few years later, under Shir
Ali, the revenue from all sources rose to £710,000; which, together
with the very handsome subsidy annually paid by the Government of
India, and if it had been assisted by a liberal fiscal policy under
Abdur Rahman, well might have expanded to an annual income of one
million sterling.
[Illustration: A CUSTOMS STATION IN THE PLAINS]
Prior to their systematic collection under the arrangements which were
devised by Abdur Rahman, the monies of Afghanistan were obtained by an
elaborate process of taxation, which, if not altogether excessive, was
accompanied by much unauthorised exaction. Taxes were imposed upon all
live-stock, upon cultivated ground, upon all varieties of produce, upon
houses and upon certain classes of the population, the apparent aim of
the authorities, irrespective of their actual needs, being to extract
as much as possible from their unhappy subjects. The following table
represents the taxes which were imposed in the territories of Herat,
Kandahar and Kabul.
_Article._ _Imposts._ £ _s._ _d._
Merchants’ shops 336 jindeks[33] per annum = 5 12 0
Nomads’ tent-tax 44 ” ” = 0 14 8
Afghans’ hut-tax 6 ” ” = 0 2 0
Camels and horses 16 ” ” = 0 5 4
Cows 3½ ” ” = 0 1 0
Sheep ⎫ ewes ½ ” ” = 0 0 2
Goats ⎭
Farm produce 8 ” ” = 0 2 8
Fruit gardens 30 ” ” = 0 10 0
Kitchen gardens 37½ ” ” = 0 12 6
Poll-tax, Hindu 15 ” ” = 0 5 0
Horses exported 73 ” ” = 1 4 4
In addition to these taxes there were the inter-territorial levies upon
merchandise in transit from one principality to another. These were
upon--
_s._ _d._
Every camel-load 36 jindeks = 12 2
Every ⎧pony⎫ load 27 ” = 8 10
⎩mule⎭
Every donkey-load 6 ” = 2 0
Goods were exported from Afghanistan free from customs duties, but all
trade entering the country was charged as follows:
_Territory._ _Nominal duty._ _Duty exacted._
Herat 5 per cent. 9 per cent.
Kandahar 2½ ” 10 ”
Kabul 2½ ” 5 ”
[Illustration: ABDUR RAHMAN’S MEMORIAL TO THE SOLDIERS WHO FELL IN
THE WAR OF 1878-1880]
Under Abdur Rahman some little relief from the oppressive and
arbitrary payments, which were extorted alike from the unfortunate
merchant and the luckless cultivator, was secured; and, as he instilled
a measure of reform into the practices of government, certain sources
of taxation were dropped and the burden resting upon industry and
agriculture proportionately lightened. The principal means of income
to the State now emanated from taxes which were levied upon cultivated
lands and fruit-trees, export and import trade, customs, registration
and postage fees (contracts, passport fees, marriage settlements,
etc.), penalties under law, revenue from Government lands and shops,
Government monopolies and manufactures, mines and minerals (salt,
rubies, gold, lapis lazuli, coal) and the annual subsidy of eighteen
lakhs of rupees--these several branches of the State revenue gradually
defining the limits of its present prosperity, which has been somewhat
further assisted by the benevolent, economic policy of the present
Amir. Abuses in the collection of octroi have been remedied, certain
taxes abolished, many mines developed, while to give an impetus to
trade in Afghanistan, Habib Ullah has announced that, in future,
traders may receive advances from the Kabul Treasury on proper
security. This concession is greatly appreciated by the commercial
community, as it will enable them to escape the payment of interest to
the Hindu bankers from whom they have been in the habit of borrowing.
Moreover, it is expected that if full effect is given to the Amir’s
wishes trade between India and Afghanistan will soon improve. The loans
will be repayable by easy instalments, this novel scheme establishing a
very important departure.
[31] “The Life of Amir Abdur Rahman.” Sultan Mahomed Khan.
[32] “Laws and Constitution of Afghanistan.” Sultan Mahomed
Khan.
[33] 1 jindek = 4_d._; 3 jindeks = 1 rupee Kandahar; 2
rupees Kandahar = 1 Kabul rupee; 1 Kabul rupee = 2_s._
[Illustration: CARAVAN OF WOOL AND COTTON]