Abdur Rahman Khan (c. 1844 -
October 1, 1901), amir of Afghanistan, was the son of Afzul Khan, who was
the eldest son of Dost Mahommed Khan, who had established the Barakzai's
family dynasty in Afghanistan.
Before his death at Herat, on June 9, 1863, Dost Mahomed had nominated as
his successor Shere Ali, his third son, passing over the two elder brothers,
Afzul Khan and Azim Khan. At first, the new amir was quietly recognized. But
after a few months Afzul Khan raised an insurrection in the northern
province, between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus River, where he had
been governing when his father died. This began a fierce contest for power
Dost Mahomed's sons, which lasted for nearly five years.
In this war, Abdur Rahman became distinguished for ability and daring
energy. Although his father, Afzul Khan, who had none of these qualities,
came to terms with the Amir Shere Ali, the son's behaviour in the northern
province soon excited the amir's suspicion, and Abdur Rahman, when he was
summoned to Kabul, fled across the Oxus into Bokhara. Shere Ali threw Afzul
Khan into prison, and a serious revolt followed in southern Afghanistan.
The amir had scarcely suppressed it by winning a desperate battle when Abdur
Rahman's reapearance in the north was a signal for a mutiny of the troops
stationed in those parts and a gathering of armed bands to his standard.
After some delay and desultory fighting, he and his uncle, Azim Khan,
occupied Kabul (March 1866). The amir Shere Ali marched up against them from
Kandahar; but in the battle that ensued at Sheikhabad on May 10, he was
deserted by a large body of his troops, and after his signal defeat Abdur
Rahman released his father, Afzul Khan, from prison in Ghazni, and installed
him upon the throne as amir of Afghanistan.
Notwithstanding the new amir's incapacity, and some jealousy between the
real leaders, Abdur Rahman and his uncle, they again routed Shere Ali's
forces, and occupied Kandahar in 1867. When Afzul Khan died at the end of
the year, Azim Khan became the new ruler, with Abdur Rahman as his governor
in the northern province. But towards the end of 1868 Shere Ali's return,
and a general rising in his favour, resulted in Abdur Rahman and Azim Khan's
defeat at Tinah Khan on January 3, 1869. Both sought refuge in Persia,
whence Abdur Rahman placed himself under Russian protection at Samarkand.
Azim died in Persia in October 1869.
Abdur Rahman lived in exile for eleven years, until the 1879 death of Shere
Ali, who had retired from Kabul when the British armies entered Afghanistan.
The Russian governor-general at Tashkent sent for Abdur Rahman, and pressed
him to try his fortunes once more across the Oxus. In March 1880 a report
reached India that Abdur Rahman was in northern Afghanistan; and the
governor-general, Lord Lytton, opened communications with him to the effect
that the British government were prepared to withdraw their troops, and to
recognize Abdur Rahman as amir of Afghanistan, with the exception of
Kandahar and some districts adjacent. After some negotiations, an interview
took place between him and Lepel Griffin, the diplomatic representative at
Kabul of the Indian government. Griffin described Abdur Rahman as a man of
middle height, with an exceedingly intelligent face and frank and courteous
manners, shrewd and able in conversation on the business in hand.
At the durbar on July 22, 1880, Abbdur Rahman was officially recognized as
amir, granted assistance in arms and money, and promised, in case of
unprovoked foreign aggression, such further aid as might be necessary to
repel it, provided that he align his foreign policy with the British. The
British evacuation of Afghanistan was settled on the terms proposed, and in
1881 the British troops also handed over Kandahar to the new amir.
However, Ayub Khan, one of Shere Ali's sons, marched upon that city from
Herat, defeated Abdur Rahman's troops, and occupied the place in July. This
serious reverse roused the amir, who had not at first displayed much
activity. He led a force from Kabul, met Ayub's army close to Kandahar, and
the complete victory which he there won forced Ayub Khan to fly into Persia.
From that time Abdur Rahman was fairly seated on the throne at Kabul, and in
the course of the next few years he consolidated his dominion over all
Afghanistan, suppressing insurrections by a sharp and relentless use of his
despotic authority. The powerful Ghilzai tribe revolted against the severity
of his measures, but they were crushed by the end of 1887. In that same
year, Ayub Khan made a fruitless inroad from Persia. In 1888, the amir's
cousin, Ishak Khan, rebelled against him in the north; but these two
enterprises came to nothing.
In 1885, at the moment when the amir was in conference with the British
viceroy, Lord Dufferin, in India, the news came of a skirmish between
Russian and Afghan troops at Panjdeh, over a disputed point in the
demarcation of the north-western frontier of Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman's
attitude at this critical juncture is a good example of his political
sagacity. To one who had been a man of war from his youth up, who had won
and lost many fights, the rout of a detachment and the forcible seizure of
some debatable frontier lands was an untoward incident; but it was not a
sufficient reason for calling upon the British, although they had guaranteed
his territory's integrity, to vindicate his rights by hostilities which
would certainly bring upon him a Russian invasion from the north, and would
compel his British allies to throw an army into Afghanistan from the
south-east. His interest lay in keeping powerful neighbours, whether friends
or foes, outside his kingdom. He knew this to be the only policy that would
be supported by the Afghan nation; and although for some time a rupture with
Russia seemed imminent, while the Indian government made ready for that
contingency, the amir's reserved and circumspect tone in the consultations
with him helped to turn the balance between peace and war, and substantially
conduced towards a pacific solution. Abdur Rahman left on those who met him
in India the impression of a clear-headed man of action, with great
self-reliance and hardihood, not without indications of the implacable
severity that too often marked his administration. His investment with the
insignia of the highest grade of the Order of the Star of India appeared to
give him much pleasure.
From the end of 1888 the amir spent eighteen months in his northern
provinces bordering upon the Oxus, where he was engaged in pacifying the
country that had been disturbed by revolts, and in punishing with a heavy
hand all who were known or suspected to have taken any part in rebellion.
Shortly afterwards (in 1892) he succeeded in finally beating down the
resistance of the Hazara tribe, who vainly attempted to defend their
immemorial independence, within their highlands, of the central authority at
Kabul.
In 1893 Sir Henry Durand was deputed to Kabul by the government of India for
the purpose of settling an exchange of territory required bu the demarcation
of the boundary between north-eastern Afghanistan and the Russian
possessions, and in order to discuss with the amir other pending questions.
The amir showed his usual ability in diplomatic argument, his tenacity where
his own views or claims were in debate, with a sure underlying insight into
the real situation. The territorial exchanges were amicably agreed upon; the
relations between the Indian and Afghan governments, as previously arranged,
were confirmed; and an understanding was reached upon the important and
difficult subject of the border line of Afghanistan on the east, towards
India. In 1895 the amir found himself unable, by reason of ill-health, to
accept an invitation from Queen Victoria to visit England; hut his second
son Nasrullah Khan went in his stead.
Abdur Rahman died on the October 1, 1901, being succeeded by his son
Habibullah. He had defeated all enterprises by rivals against his throne; he
had broken down the power of local chiefs, and tamed the refractory tribes;
so that his orders were irresistible throughout the whole dominion. His
government was a military despotism resting upon a well-appointed army; it
was administered through officials absolutely subservient to an inflexible
will and controlled by a widespread system of espionage; while the exercise
of his personal authority was too often stained by acts of unnecessary
cruelty. He held open courts for the receipt of petitioners and the
dispensation of justice; and in the disposal of business he was
indefatigable. He succeeded in imposing an organized government upon the
fiercest and most unruly population in Asia; he availed himself of European
inventions for strengthening his armament, while he sternly set his face
against all innovations which, like railways and telegraphs, might give
Europeans a foothold within his country. His adventurous life, his forcible
character, the position of his state as a barrier between the Indian and the
Russian empires, and the skill with which he held the balance in dealing
with them, combined to make him a prominent figure in contemporary Asiatic
politics and will mark his reign as an epoch in the history of Afghanistan.
The amir received an annual subsidy from the British government of 18-1/2
lakhs of rupees. He was allowed to import munitions of War. In 1896 he
adopted the title of Tia-ul-hlillat-ud Din (Light of the nation and
religion); and his zeal for the cause of Islam induced him to publish
treatises on Jihad. His two eldest sons, Habibullah Khan and Nasrullah Khan,
were born at Samarkand. His youngest son, Mahomed Omar Jan, was born in 1889
of an Afghan mother, connected by descent with the Barakzai family.
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The End. Jan 18 2004