AFGHANISTAN. 



B 



cut of the I filial levies. The regular infantry is 

 said id number ,S,OIMI, and tin- t-nlirr inilitary 



.'".(Mill men. 



Vrea anil Population. The country is di- 



viilnl into tin- four provinces of Cabul, Afghan 

 Turkistaii, llrrat, and Candaliar, and tin 1 dis- 

 tricts of Shignan and Kadakhshaii. The popnla- 

 tion i.- about I. (100,000. the (iliil/ais numbering 

 about 1,000.000. the next most numerous tribe 

 being tlie Tadjiks, who are found in various 

 parts of the country following agriculture and 

 industrial trades, after which come the Duranis, 

 the Aimaks and Ila/arn.s, who are of Tartar de- 

 scent, and the I'/becks. 



Productions and Commerce. The soil in 

 most parts of Afghanistan is irrigated, and pro- 

 duces a summer crop of wheat, barley, or leg- 

 umes, and an autumn crop of rice, millet, or 

 maize. The country abounds in asafcetida, which 

 is largely exported to India, in madder, and the 

 castor-oil plant, and in many kinds of fruit of 

 excellent quality, <m which many of the inhabi- 

 tants mainly subsist, and which in a preserved 

 state is exported in large fjiiantities. The min- 

 eral products are copper, lead, iron, gold, and 

 precious stones. The chief manufactures are 

 carpets, felt, silk, and sheepskin jmxtins. The 

 imports fn.m India in 188&-'90 were 818,450, 

 and the exports to India _"! -Ki.-Jl 1. showing a 

 marked improvement in trade, which was due to 

 the cessation of internal disturbances. Transit 

 dues imposed by the Ameer prevent the importa- 

 tion of English or Indian goods into the popu- 

 lous parts of the country north of Cabul. The 

 duties on Russian imports are relatively much 

 lighter. The Ameer is making efforts to estab- 

 li-h manufactures in his country. Trade with 

 Russia and Bokhara fell off in consequence of 

 the late depression in Afghanistan; but still 

 commercial relations with Russia are becoming 

 closer, and at the last fair in Nijni-Novgorod 

 Afghan merchants and goods were seen for the 

 lirst time. 



Political Situation. After suppressing the 

 rebellion of Isak Khan in 1888, Abdurrahman 

 remained till the autumn of 1890 mostly at 

 Mezar. the chief place of Afghan Turkistan. for 

 the purpose of organizing the administration 

 and crushing out the hostile elements, which he 

 did with relentless cruelty. Yet without the 

 friendly offices of the Russian authorities, who 

 gave Isak Khan a sumptuous asylum at Samar- 

 cand. but afterward removed him to Tashkend 

 in order to check his intrigues, and who co-oper- 

 ated with the Ameer in his efforts to replace pil- 

 lage and violence with commerce and peaceful 

 indu-try. the Afghan ruler would not have suc- 

 ceeded in gaining the good-will of the Uzbecks 

 of Khulm Atshe. Shiborgan. Maimene. and 

 Andkhoi. and in permanently holding in check 

 the adherents of l-ak. I n ' requital for their 

 amicable support the Russians received impor- 

 tant trade concessions. Caravans from Merv and 

 Samarcand were granted free ingress into Herat. 

 Me/ar, and Maiiiiene. although no English mer- 

 chant is pcri-iiited to visit Candaliar or Cabul 

 for trading purposes. The l'/becks, Turcomans, 

 Tadjiks. Ki/.ilbashes. and Aimaks, who inhabit 

 the region north of the Hindu-Kush. look upon 

 the Russians as their protectors against the Af- 

 ghan oppressors; and the Ameer of Cabul. in his 



M|b-er\ i. |; a, is governed by l! 



that his northern neighbors may at any time dis- 

 rupt th.- empire that he ha- struggled hard to 

 establish with the aid of more than 1.0<KM)00 

 of Kn:,'li-h money. The Indian (ioverniin-nt docs 

 not vent iirc to tax him with disloyalty, or even 

 to demand permission to extend tin- I'Nhin Rail- 

 road to Candaliar, where an Entrlish army could 

 Hank a force seeking to invade India through 

 Afghanistan. The railroad terminates now at 

 the outlet of the K'ojak tunnel, in "a hole in the 

 wall," as it has been described, whence it is im- 

 possible to extend it 70 miles to Candahar with- 

 out provoking a fresh war with Afghani-tan, 

 which would throw the Afghans into the arms 

 of Russia. Such an eventuality was anticipated 

 when the scientific frontier of northwestern 

 India was determined on, to complete which 

 Candahar will be necessary. This system of de- 

 fense, that was adopted as the alternative of a 

 strong and friendly Afghanistan which should 

 serve as a bulwark against Russia, entailed an in- 

 crease of 4,000,000 in the annual military ex- 

 penditures of India, and the increase has now 

 risen to 6,000,000, exceeding the cost of the 

 Afghan war. The Ameer, who would consider 

 an English advance to Candahar a more serious 

 menace to his power than a Russian occupation 

 of the conquered province of Herat, protested 

 vigorously when the terminus of the British line 

 was established at Chamau, asserting that it lay 

 within his territory. 



The Russian Transcaspian line, the starting- 

 point of which is to be transferred from I'znn 

 Ada on the Caspian to Krasnovodsk, which is 

 a superior port farther to the north, runs tor 400 

 miles in a southeasterly direction parallel to the 

 mountain range that forms the boundary of 

 Persia to Dushak, and then turns in a north- 

 easterly direction and crosses the sand desert to 

 Merv and the Oxus, and terminates at Snmar- 

 carid, its total length being 900 miles. The oasis 

 of Merv is being made by irrigation as fruitful 

 as it was in ancient times. At Dushak the Rus- 

 sian railroad is in closest proximity to Meshed, 

 the capital of the rich Persian province of Kho- 

 ras-an. as well as to the famous Afghan fortress 

 of Herat, and a branch line is being constructed 

 in the direction of Sarakhs, which is only 100 

 miles from Meshed and 170 miles from Herat. 



Some Anglo-Indian militarv critics deprecate 

 the abandonment of the plan of having a friendly 

 Afghanistan as a buffer against Russian invasion, 

 because there are some hundreds of | 

 through the mountains into India, to fortify and 

 garrison all of which would transcend the re- 

 sources of the Indian Empire. Both Russian 

 and British military explorers have recently 

 visited the Pamir and Kashgar and attempted 

 reconnois-ances in Tibet. The Indian Govern- 

 ment has sought to gain the friendship of the 

 predatory inhabitants of Kundjut by paying 

 them a subsidy, ('apt. Yoiinghusband, leading 

 a so-called scientific expedit ion to the Pamir and 

 Kashgar, was warned by the Russians not to en- 

 ter the Little Pamir, which borders on Chinese 

 TurkiMan. He found, in August. 1S!M. that a 

 Rus-ian outpo-t was established in that region. 

 which the British assert to be a part of Afghan- 

 istan, while the Ru-sians claim that the \ 

 never held effective dominion over the Pamirs. 



