The Ameer of Cabul.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3653, 10 September 1880, Page 3

The Ameer of Cabul.

The Pioneer, an influential Indian paper, gives the following short account of Abdur Eahman's life :— His father was Mahotuffied Afzul Khan, eldest son of the Dost Mahommed ; but on bis mother's side he lias Pop'ulzai 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 Eahman 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 half-hearted submission, and, .being suspected of still intriguing in favour of his father, was summoned to Cabul. 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 j unsettled, and Abdur Eahman 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 Mahotnined Khan. The latter, finding, himself f* unequal to any successful resistance, threw orer Shere Ali and united his garrison with the force from Bokhara. The Governor of Turkestan, Fatch jftlahommec Khan, was not so easily won over, and resisted the new artay. His soldiers; however, proved faithless, and leaving them to follow their own course of action, he fled from Turkestan. Abdur .Rahman thus found himself in a. few weeks at the head of a powerful army ; and, pushing on to Takhtipul, he resumed his old position .as Governor. Turkestan had thus fallen easy into his hands, and so striking was his success that he resolved upon a-march to Cabul. His jincle, <=Azim Khan, a man of some ability, joined him; and Shere Ali, still having with him Af'zul Khan, a prisoner, was forced to leave his capital On the 24th of February Abdur .Rahman entered the city without opposition ; but he had still to deal with Shere Ali, whp was collecting an army iv the south. In May the two armies" came into collision at Sheikhabad, on the Ghuznee road, and Abdur Rahman, gained a. complete victory. His father was released, and was pro- ' claimed Ameer in place of Shere Ali. But Afzul Khan, a confirmed drunkard,. was but a weak and incapable ruler, and hi? brother, A zim Khan, practically held all power in his hands. Abdur Bahman, then full of energy and flushed with success, tried to counteract his unele'3 schemes; and the quarrel might have widened, into a serious breach between the two, had not the presence of Shere Ali, with a second army at Candahar, made it imperative to sink all. differences before a common danger. Uncle and nephew again took the field, and marched southwards through Ghuznee, met and. defeated Shere Ali's army at Khelat-i-Ghilzai. This was on the 16th of January, 1867. But.opposition still had to be encountered, Faiz Mahommed, half brother to Shere Ali, having raised another army in •support of the ex-Ameer's cause. Abdur Bahman was again successful in his military operations, defeating Faiz Mahommed at Kila Allahdad on the 15th of September 3867. But while thus fight* ing with invariable success for his father he had to meet the designs of^ his uncle, whose ambition was to be himself Ameer. Afzul Khan died in Cabul while his son was absent with the army, and when Abdur Eahman returned to the capital he found his uncle, Aziai Khan, in possession of the throne. The old quarrels broke out afresh, Abdur Kahman 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 Eahman started for the northern province, and tried to subdue the Uzbeg chiefs. Iv this he was unsuccessful, the Meer of Maimena, a district between Balkh and Herat, sturdily resisting all attacks, and eventually forcing Abdur Eahman to fall back upon Takutipul. 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 'Cabul, lost heart and deserted ; and in January, 1869, in conjunction with Azim Khan, he was once more a fugative. After Azita 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-Oxus Khanates. Azful Khan died in October, 1869; and Abdur Eahman, still entertaining his idea of regaining Cabul,.went to Khiva. Here his intrigues to raise a force with which to conquer Afghan-Turkestan, met 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 Eahman. Shere Ali, in August* 1869, induced the Badakshan Sirdars to depose Jehandar , Shah, who was imprisoned in his own capital of Faixabad. 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 Maimona, 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 Eahman conceived the idea of supplicating aid from Russia. While Jehandar Shah went to Chitral, to seek aid from Aman-ul-Mulk, chief of that country, Abdur Eahman left Bokbarafor Samarcand, and reached Tash.kendinMay, 1870. General Kaufmann received him hospitably, but was deaf to all his appeals for troops to aid him in conquering Afghan-Turkestan. A pension of about £5000 sterling was assigned to him, but a refusal was given to'his request to visit St. Petersburg and represent his case to the Czar. When Shuyler saw him he expressed a confident belief that with £50,000 to raise and equip an army he could once more make himself Bupreme in Afghanistan. With this one idea in his mind he was saving nine-tenths of his pension, and hinted that, under favorable conditions he might be aided by Eussia. Jehandar Khan, after raising an unsuccessful insurrection in Badakshan in 1873, joined bis son-in-law at Samarcand in 1875, but has since died,