

AFGHANISTAN. 



spective Governments on claims advanced by 

 the Russian commissioner which the British 

 commissioner refused to allow. They then de- 

 cided to proceed with the work, reserving doubt- 

 ful points for the authorities at home to decide 

 later. At Khoja Saleh there was a dispute 

 about 50 square miles of territory, which was 

 referred to the home authorities. The Rus- 

 sians claimed that the post of that name men- 

 tioned in the agreement of 1873 was situated 

 twelve miles from the frontier line that is now 

 locally recognized. The boundary commission- 

 ers were recalled before a decision was reached. 

 Of 9,000 square miles that were in dispute 

 when the commissioners began their work, 

 7,000 were conceded to Russia and 2,000 con- 

 firmed to the Ameer, but the latter comprised 

 most of the fertile and valuable territory. 



The boundary-line between Hauz-i-Khan and 

 Maruchak, as defined in the protocol signed by 

 the British and Russian delimitation commis- 

 sioners, runs in almost a straight line from 

 Hauz-i-Khan to a point four versts north of 

 Robat-i-Kushan, thence in the direction of 

 Maruchak in a straight line to a point a little 

 southward of the mouth of the Great Pend- 

 jaryk, and then along the left bank of the Mur- 

 ghab to within three versts of Maruchak, where 

 it crosses over to the other bank. Sir West 

 Ridgeway, the British commissioner, after visit- 

 ing Ishak Khan and conferring with the Ameer 

 at Oabul, returned to India in October. 



The Russian Advance. The events of 1885, es- 

 pecially the collision at Penjdeh strengthened 

 the position of the British in Afghanistan by 

 turning the hatred and dread with which the 

 English were formerly regarded against the 

 Russians and leading the Afghans cordially to 

 accept the British alliance. The fortification 

 and arming of Herat by the English was grate- 

 fully accepted by the people of that city, as 

 well as by the other Afghans. The Govern- 

 ment and people of Afghanistan willingly agreed 

 to the building of the railroad to the neighbor- 

 hood of Oandahar. The line has been laid to 

 Pishin, the Chodja Pass fortified, and the Hel- 

 mund line of defense effectually established by 

 the Indian Government. 



V akliaii. While the boundary commissioners 

 were engaged in marking the line on the north- 

 west from the Persian frontier to the Oxus, 

 both Russian and British emissaries were busy 

 in raising new disputes in the east, where the 

 actual limits of Afghan and Bokharan rule do 

 not follow the river frontier agreed on between 

 Earl Granvilleand Prince Gortchakoff in 1872. 

 Col. Lockhart was sent on a mission of obser- 

 vation into that region, where Russian agents 

 were inviting the inhabitants to place them- 

 selves tinder the direct protection of the Czar, 

 as a security against the conquests prosecuted 

 by the Ameer of Afghanistan at the prompting 

 of the English. The Indian Government pre- 

 pared to support the Ameer in an expedition 

 into Badakshan. The rulers in the khanate 

 of Vakhan, in the extreme northeast of Afghan- 



istan, which has been considered as a depend- 

 ency of the adjoining khanate of Badakshan, 

 were induced to send a deputation to the Gov- 

 ernor-General of Turkistan offering their allegi- 

 ance to Russia on certain conditions. With the 

 possession of this district the Russians would 

 have the Chinese province of Kashgaria at 

 their mercy, and would threaten Cabul. They 

 would be near neighbors of India, and could 

 spread their influence among the wild, uncon- 

 quered tribes of the Himalayas, who are acces- 

 sible from the Pamir and from Kashgaria. The 

 aim of the Russian military policy was to turn 

 Herat, after compelling the English to guard 

 the approaches in that quarter, and menace 

 India from another direction. The annexation 

 of southern Bokhara was contemplated in con- 

 nection with the building of the railroad, and 

 it was rumored that the Emir was to be com- 

 pensated by handing over to him the dominions 

 of the Khan of Khiva. 



The Afghans conquered the Tadjik khanate 

 of Badakshan in 1870. Abdurrahman has main- 

 tained several thousand troops at Fyzabad, the 

 capital, and smaller garrisons at other places, 

 who treat the people with cruelty, and have 

 forced the inhabitants of many towns to emi- 

 grate into Bokhara. This province is therefore 

 in a chronic state of rebellion. Shignan and 

 Vakhan, small khanates in the Pamir, have 

 been invaded by the Afghans under the present 

 Ameer. Shignan, with 28,000 inhabitants, lies 

 within the sphere of Russian influence as de- 

 fined by the arrangement of 1873, since it lies 

 north of the Murghab river, though the English 

 have discovered a second Murghab river that 

 would bring the khanate within the bounds of 

 Afghanistan. That Vakhan, which has only 

 about 2,000 inhabitants, also falls to Russia 

 under the agreement of 1873, the Russians are 

 prepared to contend. With the possession of 

 the Pamir they gain access to the passes of 

 Chitral. The Russians have won in principle 

 the ethnographical frontier that they sought to 

 establish in the west. When they seat them- 

 selves in Bokhara and, without reference to the 

 river boundary agreed upon, endeavor to apply 

 the same rule on the northeastern frontier of 

 Afghanistan, there will be a numerous popula- 

 tion of industrious Uzbecks and Tadjiks, rest- 

 less under the tyranny and extortions of the 

 Afghans, eager to hand over to them a country 

 of valuable resources, and with it the strategic 

 command of Cabul and the Afghan valleys. 



Revolt against the Ameer. In October the An- 

 daris and Tookhis, the two sections of the great 

 Ghilzai tribe, with a portion of the Hazara tribe, 

 joined by the robber-chief Sadu, under the com- 

 mand of the sons of the Woollah Muchki Alum, 

 revolted against the Ameer's rule, and near Muk- 

 kur attacked and dispersed an Afghan regiment 

 that was escorting treasure to Cabul. The lat- 

 ter, with a number of prisoners, fell into the 

 hands of the rebels. The rising was connected 

 with discontent at the excessive taxation levied 

 by the Afghan Government. The Afghan au- 



