"مجموعة من المعاهدات والالتزامات والسندات المتعلقة بالهند والدول المجاورة" [‎٢‎٢‎٧] (٥٧٨/٢٤٤)

AFGHANISTAN.
227
Afghan Government. By the middle of March 1924, however, the
Afghan Government had given sufficient proof of their friendliness to
permit of the passage of the arms.
Shortly after, the Amir was confronted with the necessity of quelling
the'Khost rebellion which lasted from March 1924 to February 1925,
among the principal causes being the growing discontent in the provinces
fostered by the introduction of the ££ hasht nafri ” system of conscription
in the army, the attempt to introduce a general system of female educa
tion, and the sudden promulgation of the new Administrative Code
(Nizamnama). In March rumours of trouble in Khost were reported.
By the middle of April the whole of the Southern Province was involved
and from then onwards the Afghan Government were mainly occupied in
an endeavour to localise the outbreak and prevent it spreading to the
Ghilzai tribes. The army at the outset suffered a series of reverses at the
hands of the tribal rebels. The latter, emboldened by success and
encouraged by the arrival from India of a figure-head in the person of
one Abdul Karim, a bastard son of the ex-Amir Yakub Khan, who had
succeeded in escaping from surveillance in India, had by the end of duly
cut the main communication between Kabul and the South and were
within 25 miles of the capital. Emissaries were despatched to raise the
Hazaras and the tribes of the Eastern Province; regular troops were
withdrawn to defend the city, and on the 11th August war was officially
declared against the Mangals of Khost. This vigorous action, coupled
with the arrival in Kabul of two British aeroplanes, purchased by the
Afghan Government, turned the tide, and by the beginning of September
negotiations had been opened by the rebel leaders. The ensuing five
months witnessed the gradual break up of the rebel forces. The Ghilzais.
who had never been seriously involved, were quickly detached; early in
October the Mangals of Khost made terms, and in December the Zadran
leaders, who had till then harboured Abdul Karim, were induced to
come into Kabul to negotiate terms with the Amir. Abdul Karim fled
to India where he was quickly arrested, and the arrival in Kabul under
escort of his chief supporter, the Lame Mulla, on the 30th January
1925. marks the close of the rebellion.
The state of Afghanistan at the close of the rebellion was sufficiently
serious. The financial resources of the State were exhausted, the internal
disunion of the races inhabiting the country had been demonstrated, a
check had been given to the Amir’s schemes for moral and educational
progress, and a steady deterioration was apparent in the administration
of the provinces. The occasion was one which demanded the Bulei s
whole attention in an endeavour to regain lost ground, but foi the next
eighteen months his attentions were diverted by a seiies of incidents
which endangered his relations with Italy, Germany and Russia succes-