Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎46r] (93/312)

inactive during the three months that yet remain
available for carrying on hostilities in Afghan
istan 1 The best reply would seem to be furnished
by our telegrams from India. The Indian nation
demands with one voice that Sherb Ali should
make ample reparation for the insult he has offered
India as well as England, and the Viceroy has
proved that he thoroughly endorses that view. We
should become the laughing-stock of India as well
as of Asia if we permitted timidity to keep us sta
tioned throughout the coming winter in a state of
inglorious inactivity upon the frontiers of Cabul.
The position would be worse than dangerous ; it
would be positively ridiculous.
FROM QTJETTA TO CANDAIIAR.
Situated in a plain of striking fertility lies
Candahar, the city of Alexander, and the capital
of the southern portion of Afghanistan, The walls
whiph surround the modern pity are rectangular in |
shape, but the inhabited portion of the town, |
whicn spreads all around in various d.roctions, is so |
variable in form that the configuration of the city j
is not so clear as the definition "rectangular"
would imply. Cemeteries to the north, gardens to
tne west and east, and thickly-peopled suburbs to
the south give Candahar an appearance of size
greater than is warranted by its actual population,
although that cannot be computed at less than 60,000
people. Can dahar is situated close to the Urgend river,
a branch of theHelmund; and its position on the
great road between India and Eastern Afghanistan
on the one side, and Persia and Western Afghan
istan on the other, is so peculiarly advantageous
that it has at all times been admitted to be the i
most important city of Eastern Cabul. The \
Persians have always aspired to possess it, and i
their attempts on Herat, intended in the first place |
to secure that city, have always had the ulterior j
object of acquiring Candahar as well. Persia, it
should be remembered, persists in considering
Afghanistan as far as Ghizni as a Persian pro
vince. Yet, although Candahar is part and portion
of the Afghan State, it is no mere provincial city ;
it aspires to the rank of a capital. It has a history
of its own, closely wound up in Afghan eyes with
the destiny of Cabul, yet in the eyes of the ardent
Candahari of distinct interest and importance.
It would be idle to trace back the tale which
gives to Candahar an origin as famous and as !
remote as those other cities which bear the name of
the great Macedonian conqueror, nor can it be
expected that within the space of an article
intended to inform Englishmen of the present value j
and importance of this Afghan city' its remote j
historical claims can be fully investigated. We
may pass over the centuries that preceded the
appearance of Kadir Shah, and commence our <
description with the arrival of that conqueror j
beneath .the walls of this city ih 1735. In j
that year Afghanistan was a country broken |
up into various parts, and its condition precisely j
resembled _ that now existing among the indepen
dent and rival clans of the Indian and Cashmerian
borders: The three great clans were the two
branches of the Abdali—viz., the Sudosye and the
Barucksye, and the Populsye. The last of these
was supreme in Candahar, and Khans of this clan
ruled there when Nadir Shah assailed it. Their
power was by no means insignificant, and they had
carried the ten-or of their name into the Belooch
country beyond Quetta, and into the Ghiljie
country as far as Khelat-i-Ghiljie. They had,
moreover, waged successful war with the Abdali
clan in the country beyond Girishk, and in Zemin-
dewar, and in 1735 the young Sudosye chief,
Ahmed Khan, was a hostage in their possession, I
the token at once of Abdali discomfiture and |
Populsye pride and triumph. But although the rulers
of Candahar were strong among a divided nation, |
their power was as nothing in the face of the great
host, so ably led, of Nadir Shah. They had held
aloof when Herat and Ferrah were wrested from ;
tbeir kinsmen ; and now, having abstained from j
the duty of arresting Persian pretensions on the I
threshold of their country, what chance had they
when the Turcoman conqueror crossed the Helmund
fresh from the conquest of the western provinces 1
They had none, and they yielded. The Candahar
Khans, chiefs of the great Populsye clan, sank
from their high estate., and became merged among
the rest of those Afghan followers of the •Persian j
Prince who contributed so much to his Indian !
triumphs. ■ On the surrender of Candahar the
Belooch feudatories of that city proved re-
fractory, and on one occasion worsted the
Persian army. But Nadir Shah hastened to the
point of danger, and routed the army of the Khan
of Khelat, who, true to his engagments, had de
clared war against the invader of Candahar.
During the remainder of the life of Nadir, Cauda- |
har remained in his possession as the principal'
city of Ca'ul, and on his death it was there that |
Ahmed Khan first declared his independence of the ■
new ruler of Teheran. From the accession of i
Ahmed to power down to the fall of Mahmoud
before the Barucksye insurrection, Candahar re
mained one of the brightest spots in the possession
i of the Duranis ; but Populsye disaffection, and
j dreams of regaining their lost position, formed an
i unknown factor in the Condition of Cabul, There
j is no information on the point of what the
Popalsyes did 'to assist the Barucksye cause,: or *
what to overthrow the Sudosye. They ' dis- 1
appeared from the , scene when Candahar fell into j
the hands of the Persian Sovereign, and they only |
appeared once more for a brief space durinc the |
"Afghan wars forty ' years ago. When "Dost
Mahomed's brother, Kohundil Khan, received
' Candahar as his appanage, in the year 1820,
Populsye vigour seemed to have finally depar'ed.
and during the nineteen years he ruled, until we
| appeared before Candahar, he, so far as we
I know, was undisturbed in his (Government. The
Populsyes had concentrated their antipathies upon
I the Sudosyes, and in the triumph of the
! Burucksyes had acquiesced, as proud men will
[ often acquiesce, in a compromise. Their hostility
| was principally directed against Ahmed Khan's
descendants, and in them they refused to recognise
a lawful ruh r. But when Futti Khan's brothers
: acquired the State the Populsye clan, which had
withdrawn towards Girishk and Zemindewar, became
more contented, and proved staunch to the Afghan
j national cause when Shah Thu'a strove to regain
his heritage. Since then Candahar has in the main
adhered to the side that received general support
in the country, and only for a short time passed out
of its allegiance to Shero Ali in 1867, when he fied
to Herat. Since then Candahar has been the
1 second city of the kingdom, and its Governor has
generally been one of Shere Ali's sons, either
Yakoob Khan or Ibrahim. The city is garrisoned
! by a division of the regular army which the Ameer
has created since 38G9, and, so far as we know.
I the Candahari have no cause to be dis-
; contented with their present form qf Govern
ment. Shere Ali has always had a partiality
| for them, and they have enjoyed whatever pro-
^ sperity it w 7 as in his power to confer,
| At the present time it is opportune to remember
that the Khojuck Pass is nominally open all the
year round, but that during the months of January
and February it is liable to being blocked by the
snow that often collects there. When General
England was sent forward in March, 3842, to
relieve Nott—who, by the way, had taken the pre
caution in December, 1841, to lay in stores for five
'months—he suffered himself to be influenced
by a show of defence at Hykulsye, so far as
to retreat upon Quetta ; but it is satis
factory An East India Company trading post. to be able to point out that there is
an alternative pass which effectually turns the
Khojuck, and which will enable us to maintain
, communication throughout the winter between
Quetta and Candahar if necessary. This alterna
tive road lies west of the Khojuck, passing through
the villages of Shadizai, Gulislan, and Shintazai to
Kohi and Candahar. By this way, even if the
Khojuck Pass should be closed, communications
might be maintained throughout the winter with
Candahai-. It is wise to suppose, however,, that
our advance on Candahar will be opposed, and we
should prepare to encounter in this quarter the
most severe opposition an Afghan Ameer and army
are capable of offering. Troubles in the Ghiljie
country, of which there are rumours, at the
bottom of which Yakoob Khan may safely be < on-
sidered to be, if he has escaped, as reported,
from confinement, must result in the temporary
collapse of Shere Ali's power in Southern
Afghanistan ; and of that collapse we must be close
at hand to take advantage. It is most satisfactory
to know that we can send a column to Candahar at
any moment, and maintain it there in force, and
with plentiful supplies during the depth of winter.
There is reason for saying that. Government
has in its possession geographical informal ion of an
unknown portion of Eastern Cabul, which will
enable troops to be forwarded to Quetta from the
Punjab more rapidly than at present. The opinion ■
is becoming general that the Suleiman range is an
in-efficient frontier line, and the practical proof of
this will be seen in the fact that, in the event of a
great war, it will be found that there are many
more passes feasible for a large army than the three
or four generally accepted. The roads traversed
by Shah Jehan and other Indian kings can be
traversed by English soldiers and generals, as may
yet be demonstrated.