Small Players of the Great Game: The settlement of Iran's eastern borderlands and the creation of Afghanistan (Islamic Studies)

280 Pages·2004·8.09 MB·English

by  Mojtahed-Zadeh

SMALL PLAYERS OF THE
GREAT GAME
This book deals with the nineteenth-century Anglo-Russian Great Game
played out on the territorial chessboard of eastern and northeastern parts of
the waning Persian Empire. The Great Game itself has been written about
extensively,butneverfromaPersianangleandfromthepointofviewofthe
local players in that game. Looking at the territorial consequences of the
Great Game for the local players is a unique approach, which deserves a
special place in the studies of history, geography, politics and geopolitics of
the age of modernity.
Particular attention is paid in this work to the impact of the age-old
rivalriesbetweenlocaldynastiessuchastheKhozeimehsofKhorasan(ofIran)
and Abdalis of Afghanistan on shaping the global structure of the Great
Game itself and on the political geography of West Asia. The work presents
a thorough study of the nineteenth-century Anglo-Russian games of geo-
politics that have shaped today’s political geography of West Asia and the
evolution of the international boundaries between Iran, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Central Asian republics. For the first time, this study reveals
how, through the agency of Britain and Russia, the state of Afghanistan and
the former Russian provinces of Central Asia were created out of the
northeastern provinces of the Persian Empire.
Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh is Professor of Geopolitics at the University of
Tarbiat Modarres in Tehran, and Chairman of the Urosevic Foundation in
London.For35yearshehasbeendoingresearchinandteachingthepolitical
geography and history of Iran and West Asia, the Persian Gulf and the
Caspian Sea. He lectures extensively in North America, Western Europe,
the Middle East and the Far East and has published widely in English and
Persian, with translations in other languages.

SMALL PLAYERS OF THE
GREAT GAME
The settlement of Iran’s eastern borderlands
and the creation of Afghanistan
Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh
Firstpublishedin2004
byRoutledgeCurzon
11NewFetterLane,LondonEC4P4EE
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledgeCurzon
29West35thStreet,NewYork,NY10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
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ISBN 0-203-48027-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-33766-2 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN0–415–31213–2(Print edition)
I dedicate this book to the memory of the late Amir Hussein Khan Khozeime
Alamwithoutwhoseencouragementandassistancethisbookwouldnothave
been started let alone finished. He sadly passed away on 30th April 2002
unable to see the completion of this work.
I can take no political step without exposing (myself) to suspicious inquiries
and interference on the part of either Russia or England. These two great
powers,insteadofdiscussingtheirrivalrieswitheachother,alwaysmadeIran
the victim of their mutual jealousies.
Iranian Prime Minister Mirza Ali-Asqar Khan Amibn as-Sultan 1902–1903
CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 The great game and its major players 8
2 Small players: the Khozeimeh family 41
3 Khozeimeh foreign relations 90
4 The partitioning of Khorasan and the creation of
Afghanistan 122
5 The partitioning of Khorasan and Baluchistan and the
emergence of modern boundaries 150
6 The partitioning of Sistan and the evolution of
boundaries with Afghanistan 174
Conclusion 209
Notes 219
Bibliography 243
Index 249
vii

ILLUSTRATIONS
Maps
2.1 The Khozeimeh amirdom at its peak (1747–1753) 62
5.1 Hashtadan and Hari-rud boundaries (MacLean’s Line) 155
5.2 Namakzar and Qaenat boundaries (Altay’s Line) 162
5.3 The Goldsmid and Holdich Lines in Baluchistan 171
6.1 Sistan boundaries (Goldsmid’s Line) 189
6.2 Rough sketch of the Hirmand River and its tributaries 208
Plates
2.1 The Amir of Qaen and the staff of the amirdom 55
2.2 Major General Goldsmid and his staff with Amir Alam
Khan of Qaen and Sistan 68
2.3 Amir Alam Khan III, Mir Tuman, Heshmat al-Molk I,
Amir of Qaen and Sistan 71
2.4 Amir Ali-Akbar Khan Hesam ad-Doleh II, Heshmat
al-Molk II, Amir of Sistan and Tabas 73
2.5 Amir Mohammad Esmail Khan Shokat al-Molk I 74
2.6 Amir Mohammad Ebrahim Khan Shokat al-Molk II
Alam as Minister for Post, Telegraph and Telephone
under Reza Shah (1939) and his son Amir Asadollah
Kham Alam, Mohamma-Reza Shah’s Prime Minister
(1962–4) 81
2.7 Amir Ebrahim Khan Shokat al-Molk II flanked by his two
nephews: Amir Masum Khan Hesam ad-Doleh and Amir
Mohammad Reza Khan Samsam ad-Doleh 83
2.8 Amir Mohammad-Reza Khan Khozeimeh, Samsam
ad-Doleh, the last Khozeimeh governor of Sistan 84
2.9 Amir Masum Khan Hesam ad-Doleh II, when Amir of
Qaenat and Sistan 87
ix