THE AFGHAN WAR.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 88, 19 October 1878, Page 3

THE AFGHAN WAR.

(From the ‘ Dunedin Morning Herald.’) The war entered on by the Indian Government against Shir-Ali Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, i« of deeper import than perhaps any contest which has previously taken place in India. The close proximity of the present Russian frontier, the evident reliance of Shir-Ali on Russian aid in some shape, and the deep resentment that Russian officials must feel at the failure of the San Stefano treaty, will render critical the advance of Indian forces on the strategic positions of Afghanistan. It is expected that three important points commanding caravan routes in this mountainous country, the lower portions of which are 4.000 feet above the sea, may be occupied before the winter. These are Jelalabad, Kandahar, and Herat, the most important being Herat, near the Persian frontier, situated in a broad fertile valley or plain. The routes from Persia and Turkestan meet at tin's point, and it offers the best road for an invading army coming from the north to enter the Punjab. It is probably intended to leave Kabul for future operations in the spring. The attitude ol Shir-Ali must be ascribed to the successful Russian war against Turkey. He, no doubt, regards Russia as the strongest Power in Asia, and is acting under her counsel. It is well understood in India that the Afghan leans to the side that promises most. Shir Ali received a large subsidy and arms from the Indian Government a few years since. Probably money and arras have since come from Russia ; hence the change. Between Afghanistan Proper and Russian Turkestan is a tract of country south of the Oxus, now forming that part of Afghanistan called Afghan Turkestan. Mery and Balkh are towns of this dependency, the one on the Herat road, the other on that of Kabul. The British Government notified to Russia three or four years since, that an approach to - either of these towns would be looked on as undesirable, and suggested the Oxus as a line of frontier. This was agreed to. It will be seen now how far Russia will adhere to this understanding. It is thought that these towns with their territory, affording a closer approach to India, are now the objects of the restless Russian Eastern policy, and that they will be the price of aid to Shir-AM, Vambery, who lived and travelled some years in Turkestan as a Dervish, long since asserted the necessity of the Indian Government occupying Quetta, beyond the Bolan Pass. This was done last year by treaty'with the Khan of Kelat. He also stated that England must occupy Jelalabad, Kandahar, and Herat, to cover the Punjab. This we see is now to be done, and these positions will most likely be permanently maintained. The real Indian frontier is the Hindoo Koosh, that prolongation of the Himalayas which separates Afghanistan fr< m Turkestan, Russia is the active fomenter of discord in Central Asia f foiled in Europe, she may he seeking to contest the supreme sovereignity of the country south of the Oxus, and the line of the Hindoo Koosh mountain I ', with the

nation which has been her most active op ionent in the West, and whose one Yuhierahlo point is India, reached tlir ng” Afghanistan. The increased Xcn wlcdgo of the c untry, and of the country, and of the force to be opposed, wiii prevent any disaster like that of the former invasion. The real danger lies in the amount of Russian support, and the designs which Russia may have on Afghan provinces which are but partially dependent on Shir-Ali. While the British embassy is refused entrance into the State, that of Russia is honourably received at Kabul, where it is to be permanently established. The war just begun isno ordinary Indian war, but one involving the advance to a frontier line which would bring England and Russia in close contact amidst wild and turbulent military races. England must of necessity assert herself; she cannot without danger to her Indian Empire appear in Central Asia as less powerful than Russia.