Table Of ContentState and Tribe in
Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan
State and Tribe in
Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan
The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad
Khan (1826-1863)
Christine Noelle
Routledge
Taylor&Francis Croup
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published in 1997
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Transferred to Digital Printing 2008
0 1997 Christine Noelle
Typeset in Sabon by Laserscript, Mitcham, Surrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-7007-0629-1
Frontispiece (from upper left to lower right):
Ghulam Haidar Khan, Amir Dost Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Akram Khan and
'Abd al-Ghani b. Nawwab 'Abd al-Jabbar Khan, sketched by Emily Eden in 1841
0 Copyright Stiftung Bibliotheca Afghanica, Liestal
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent
CONTENTS
. . .
Acknowledgements Vlll
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction xiii
1 DOST MUHAMMAD KHAN'S FIRST REIGN AND THE
FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR
The Political Setting in the Early Nineteenth Century
The Alikozais
The Popalzais
The Barakzais
Dost Muhammad Khan's Assumption of Power
The Power Struggle among the Muhamrnadzais 1818 -1 826
The Beginnings of Muhammadzai Rule
Dost Muhammad Khan's Person
Dost Muhammad Khan's Sphere of Influence 1826-1839
Kabul in the Early Nineteenth Century
The Qizilbash
Sunni-Shi'a Frictions
Kohistan
Bamiyan and Bihsud
Dost Muhammad Khan's Consolidation of Power
The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842) and Amir Dost
Muhammad Khan's Resumption of Power
The Events Leading up to the British Invasion
Amir Dost Muhammad Khan? Perspective
The British Occupation of Afghanistan
The Principal Participants in the Uprising of 1841-1842
Administrative Measures Taken by Dost Muhammad Khan
after his Resumption of Power
State and Tribe in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan
2 AMIR DOST MUHAMMAD KHAN'S POLICIES IN
TURKISTAN
Afghan Turkistan - The Geographical and Ethnographical Setting 60
Physical Features 6 0
The Inhabitants 6 3
Historical Overview
The Origin of the Uzbeks
The Chingizid System of Government
The Rise of Amirid States
Afghan Turkistan under the Sadozais
The Uzbek Principalities of the Early Nineteenth Century 74
Maimana 75
Qilich 'Ali of Tashqurghan 77
Mazar-i Sharif and Balkh 7 8
Mir Murad Beg of Qunduz 80
Mir Wali of Tashqurghan 85
Dost Muhammad Khan's Intervention in Turkistan 87
The Beginnings of Afghan Administration 87
The Extension of Afghan Authority in Western Turkistan 91
The Conquest of Qunduz 9 7
The Effects of the Afghan Administration 101
Administrative Measures Taken by the Afghan Government 102
The Sociopolitical Setting in Qataghan and Badakhshan 106
The Organization of the Afghan Administration 115
3 THE POSITION OF THE PASHTUN TRIBES IN THE
MUHAMMADZAI STATE 123
Pashtun Organization in the Light of Modern Anthropology 125
The Concept of 'Tribe' 125
The Pashtuns 133
The Yusufzais of Swat 138
The Mohmand Agency 145
The Pashtun Tribes of Khost 150
The Ghilzais 153
The Pashtuns in History
The Border Tribes
The Tribes of the Khyber Region
Kurram, Khost and Zurmat
Bajaur
The Mohmands of Laclpura
Contents
The Western Reaches of the Kabul River 190
Kunar 191
The Jabbar Khel Ghilzais 195
The Babakr Khel Ghilzais 198
The Hotak and Tokhi Ghilzais 207
The Historical Origins of the Leading Families 208
The Position of the Leadership in the Early Nineteenth Century 211
Dost Muhammad Khan? Policies towards the Hotaks and
Tokhis 215
Revenues Raised among the Ghilzais 219
4 DOST MUHAMMAD KHAN'S OCCUPATION OF QANDAHAR
AND HIS ADMINISTRATION 228
The Durranis 229
Durrani History and Organization 229
The Policies of the Qandahar Sardars 235
Dost Muhammad Khan's Occupation of Qandahar 240
Dost Muhammad Khan's Administration 248
The Structure of Dost Muhammad Khan's Government 250
The Army 258
The AmirS Revenues 267
The Role of the Ulama 276
Trade 280
5 CONCLUSION 290
Notes
Glossary
Appendix A: Maps
Appendix B: Genealogical Tables
Appendix C: Currencies
Appendix D: The Service Grants Made by Ahmad Shah in the
Qandahar Region
Appendix E: The IJrban Population of Afghan Turkistan
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present work has grown out of a PhD dissertation submitted at U. C.
Berkeley in 1995. My endeavor to gain a better understanding of the
political setting in nineteenth-century Afghanistan has not only taken me
across continents but has in many ways constituted a journey into the past
for me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who
undertook to be my travelling companions in this process. I am grateful to
my supervisors at U. C. Berkeley, Professors Hamid Algar, Ravan A. G.
Farhadi and Ira Lapidus for their willingness to follow the circuitous route
my project often took, in particular during its early stages. Professors
Ludwig Adamec, Ashraf Ghani, Hasan Kakar, Sayed Qassem Reshtia,
Anuradha Sareen, Tilak Raj Sareen, Nazif Shahrani, Kulbhushan Warikoo
and Malcolm Yapp gave me valuable guidance in the formulation of my
research topic and directed me to relevant source materials. Ivan Midgley's
constructive criticism helped me to keep my bearings throughout the
writing process. I also wish to thank my family and my friends for their
encouragement and confidence in my work, and for keeping me in touch
with the present as well.
My research in London and Delhi was made possible by a Fulbright-
Hays DDRA grant in 1989-90. I am indebted to Professor Bert G. Fragner
and the Otto Friedrich Universitat of Bamberg for supporting the latest
phase of my research and writing. Special thanks go to the personnel of the
India Office Library in London, the National Archives of India at Delhi and
the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. The frontispiece of this book
was reproduced with the permission of the Bibliotheca Afghanica in Liestal,
Switzerland. I am grateful to Malcolm Yapp, Jonathan Lee, E. J. Brill and
the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies for the permission to reproduce maps
and charts.
Finally, I would like to thank Malcolm Campbell of Curzon Press and
Laserscript for their attentiveness and patience in seeing the publication of
this work through.
PREFACE
Afghanistan - Land of Legends! Legends of the Afghans' unquenchable
spirit of freedom; legends of the Pashtuns' proud customary law unbroken
by the precepts of orthodox Islam; legends of 'Afghanistan' a historical
entity, which can be traced to antiquity by a variety of other names: Ariana,
subjugated by the Achaemenids; Bactria, the glorious empire of the
Kushans; Khurasan, oppressed by the Sasanians, unconquered by the Arabs;
the mighty and glorious empire of Mahmud of Ghazna; periods of
oppression by the Mongols, Turkmens and Safavids; the foundation of
Afghanistan by Ahmad Shah Durrani in the mid-eighteenth century; later,
freedom struggles against the British; and, finally, resistance to the Soviet
Union. The Afghans: a people often oppressed and tormented, but
ultimately invincible!
So much for the legends. The author of the present work has employed
the tools, knowledge and ardour of an academic historian to retrieve
historical fact from the twilight of legends. The political entity founded as
Afghanistan in 1747 - formally a royal dominion based on tribal affiliation
with the other Pashtun tribes - was in fact one of many political formations
which were based on the military clout of tribal confederacies and afflicted
by an inherent instability. The military prowess of these confederacies was
constantly on the verge of being paralysed by political altercations breaking
out among the component tribes.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century it seemed as though Afghanistan
had already reached the end of its history. Internal discord had rendered the
empire powerless, the rich Indian provinces had been lost. Then in 1826 a
ruler came to power who did not rest his attempt at state building solely on
the question, 'State or tribe?', but rather sought to extend his base of power
beyond tribal allegiances. Dost Muhammad Knan, a Pashtun from the
Muhammadzai lineage, proclaimed himself amir al-mu2menin, 'commander
of (all) the faithful', staged jihad (against the heathen Sikhs) and set out to
undermine the monopoly that the tribal warriors held over military affairs.
Attempts at structural modernization and the first major confrontation with
the British colonial empire were soon to follow.
