NADIR KHAN IS KING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 798, 19 October 1929, Page 9

NADIR KHAN IS KING

AFGHANS CHOOSE NEW MONARCH BACCHA’S LAST THROW Australian and N.Z. yrcss Association DELHI, Friday. General Nadir Khan, yielding to the insistent pressure of the leading citizens of Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar, has agreed to become King of Afghanistan. At the National Assembly yesterday Nadir Khan was acclaimed king, "in view of his epoch-making victory and his services to the country and the people.” The Foreign Minister sent a wireless message to the Afghan trade agent at Peshawar, to send his allegiance to King Nadir, but the agent refused, stating that the declaration was a flagrant contravention of Nadir's pledge to support ex-King Amanullah.

“Nadir has cherished from the beginning ambitions of gaining the throne for himself. Now he has created fresh trouble,” said the agent. It is now reported that the deposed king, Bacchasakao, is collecting the remnants of his forces in an effort to regain the throne. A message says the fate of Bacchasakao, whose forces were defeated, is uncertain, but he is stated to have surrendered to Nadir Khan’s troops. Nadir is the fourth occupier of the Afghan throne this year. Amamillah, who is now in Italy, abdicated in the face of revolution last year, and his brother, Inayatullah, who succeeded him for a few days, was dethroned by Bacchasakao, one-time Afghan outlaw, who proclaimed himself Amir Habibullah. Nadir Khan, who is related by marriage to Amanullah, was at one titne commander-in-chief of the Afghan army, and afterwards War Minister. Five years ago he went to Paris as Afghan Minister, but he resigned through ill-health after two years. He emerged from his retirement in the south of France at the beginning of the year, and returned to Afghanistan. in March. Prior to the present successful offensive against Habibullah, three earlier efforts had been unsuccessful. AMANULLAH'S MESSAGE CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW MONARCH Australian and N.Z. Press Association Reed. 1.5 p.m. ROME, Friday. Amanullah, ex-King of Afghanistan, telegraphing his congratulations to Nadir Khan, describes himself as “an Afghan who loves his country.” Interviewed, he said he did not intend to offer any opposition to the policy of Nadir, and would willingly accept the decision of the National Assembly which elected him King. He had no intention of aspiring to the throne, and was ready to serve Afghanistan even in the capacity of a simple citizen.