THE AMEER OF CABUL.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2024, 19 August 1880, Page 3

THE AMEER OF CABUL.

The “Pioneer,” an influential Indian paper, gives the following short account of Abdur Rahman’s life : His father was Mahommed Afzul Khan, eldest son of the Dost Mahommed ; but on his mother’s side he has Populzai blood in his veins. In 1863*64, when the death of the Dost had rendered the throne vacant, Afzul Khan, as eldest son of the deceased Ameer, objected to his claim being set aside in favour of his younger half-brother Shere Ali, and soon the country was in a state of civil war. Abdur Bahman was placed by his father in charge of Takhtipul, in Turkestan, and showed some genius as a soldier, but was eventually obliged to confess himself beaten by Shere Ali’s force. He made a halfhearted submission, and, being suspected of still intriguing in favour of his father, was summoned to Oabul. This order he refused to obey ; but, dreading the consequences, fled across the Oxus into Bokhara, where many other sirdars had taken refuge. Turkestan was still very unsettled, and _Abdur Rahman induced many of the garrison of Balkh to desert Shere Ali and cross into Bokhara. The Ameer of that khanate openly espoused his cause and aided him in many ways. With a small but well-equipped force he at last re-crossed the Oxus and made for Acha, then in charge of Faiz Mahommed Khan. The latter, finding himself unequal to any successful resistance, threw over Shere Ali and united his garrison with the force from Bokhara. The Governor of Turkestan, Fateh Mahommed Khan, was not so easily won over, and resisted the new army. His soldiers, however, proved faithless, and, leaving them to follow their own course of action, ho fled from Turkestan. Abdur Bahman thus found himself in a few weeks at the head of a fairly powerful army; and, pushing on to Takhtipul, he resumed his old position as Governor. Turkestan had thus fallen easily into his hands, and so striking was his success that he resolved upon a march to Oabul. His uncle, Azim Khan, a man of some ability, joined him ; and Shere Ali, still having with him Afzul Khan, a prisoner, was forced to leave his capital. On the 24th of February Abdur Bahman entered the city without opposition; but he had still to deal with Shere Ali, who was collecting an army in the south. In May the two armies came into collision at Sheikhabad, on the Ghuzcee road, and Abdur Bahman gained a complete victory. His father was released, and was proclaimed Ameer in place of Shere Ali. But Afzul Khan, a confirmed drunkard, was but a weak and incapable ruler, and his brother, Azim Khan, practically held all power in his hands. Abdur Rahman, then full of energy and flushed with succeas, tried to counteract his uncle's schemes; and the quarrel might have widened into a serious broach between the two, had not the presence of Shere Ali, with a second army at Oandahar, made it imperative to sink all differences before a common danger. Uncle and nephew again took the field, and marching southwards through Ghuznee, mot and defeated Shere Ali’s army at Khelat-i-Ghilzai. This was on the 16th of January, 1867. But opposition still had to he encountered, Faiz Mahommed, half-brother of Shere Ali, having raised another army in support of the cx-Ameer’s cause. Abdur Rahman was again successful in his military operations, defeating Faiz Mahommed at Kila Allahdad on the 15th of September, 1867. But while thus fighting with invariable success for his father, he had to meet the designs of his uncle, whoso ambition was to be himself Ameer. Afzul Khan died in Oabul while his son was absent with the army, and when Abdur Rahman returned to the capital he found his uncle, Azim Khan, in possession of the throne. The old quarrels broke out afresh, Abdur Bahman naturally feeling aggrieved that after all his successes the Ameership had slipped through his hands. Again fresh complications in Turkestan saved an open rupture. Abdur Rahman started for the northern province, and tried to subdue the Uzbeg chiefs. In this ho was unsuccessful, the Meer of Maimona, a district between Balkh and Herat, sturdily resisting all attacks, and eventually forcing Abdur Rahman to fall back upon Takhtipul. The absence of the young soldier in the north had been Shere Ali’s opportunity. His forces were successful in Western Afghanistan, and he was soon de facto Ameer. Abdur Rahman’s position in;Turkestan then became untenable ; his soldiers, hearing that Shere Ali was once more in possession of Oabul, lost heart and deserted; and in January, 1869, in conjunction with Azim Khan, he was once more a fugitive. After Azim Khan had appealed to the Indian Government for help, and had been refused, the

(two sirdars sought refuge in Persia, and afterwards in the trans-Ozus Khanates. Azful Khan died in October, 1869; and Abdur Babaian, still entertaining his idea of regaining Oabul, went to Khiva. Here his intrigues to raise a force with which to conquer Af-gban-Turkestan, mot with such slight success that he turned his steps to Bokhara. Living as a refugee in that Khanate was Jehandar Shah, ex-Meer of Badakshan, This chief had heartily aided Afzul Khan in his struggle for the throne, and to cement the alliance had given his sister in marriage to Azim Khan, and his daughter to Abdur Kahman. Shere Ali, in August, 1869, induced the Badakshan Sirdars to depose Jehandar Shah, who was imprisoned in his own capital of Faizabad. He persuaded his late subjects to grant his release, and crossed the Oxus to Kulab, where Abdur Bahman joined him. Their intrigues to gain possession of Badakshan were on the basis of raising a force of Turkomans on the north, while the Meer of Maimena, with an army of Uzbegs, cooperated with them from the west through Balkh and Kunduz. The want of money was a great obstacle to success, and Abdur Bahman conceived the idea of supplicating aid from Bussia. While Jehandar Shah went to Ohitral, to seek aid from Aman-ul-Mulk, chief of that country, Abdur Bahman left Bokhara for Samaroand, and reached Tashkend in May, 1870. General Kaufmann received him hospitably, but was deaf to all his appeals for troops to aid him in conquering Afghan-Turkostan. A pension of about £SOOO sterling was assigned to him,_ but a refusal was given to his request to visit St. Petersburg and represent his ease to the Czar. When Schuyler saw him ho expressed a confident belief that with £50,000 to raise and equip an army he could once more make himself supreme in Afghanistan. With this one idea in his mind he was saving ninetenths of his pension, and hinted that, under favorable conditions, he might be aided by Bussia. Jehandar Khan, after raising an unsuccessful insurrection in Badakshan in 1873, joined his son-in-law at Samarcand in 1875, imt has since died.