nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47postage stamps. The Amir built Afghanistan’s first factory, known as the
mashin khana, which manufactured gunpowder and small arms. He estab-
lished Afghanistan’s first military academy, which included instruction in
mathematics, geography, map reading and other sciences, and commis-
sioned a census of Kabul city. Another notable feature of Sher ‘Ali Khan’s
reign was the increasing use of Pushtu titles and terminology, especially
in the military, for many of the army’s commanders were Ghilzais from
Ghazni and Wardak. However, the degree of Pushtunization that took place
during Sher ‘Ali Khan’s reign has been somewhat overstated by Afghan
historians, 53 and Persian remained the language of the court and official
communications.
Sher ‘Ali Khan was the first Afghan ruler known to have worn
European dress and on official occasions he often appeared wearing a
Russian military uniform. The Amir’s adoption of foreign dress was far
more controversial than it might appear, for European clothing did not
conform to the strict Islamic dress code. However, by adopting European
modes of dress, Sher ‘Ali Khan symbolized that his sympathies lay with
modernizers who sought engagement with the Western world and its tech-
nology. Furthermore, to the mid-nineteenth-century European mind, the
dress code of foreign rulers and chieftains was a defining feature of whether
they were treated as civilized or barbarians. For this reason chieftains from
Africa to New Zealand Maori wore frock coats and starched collars rather
than traditional garb, for to do so was one of the keys that opened the
door to membership, though a second-class one, of Europe’s Imperial club.
European versus ‘Islamic’ or traditional dress would continue to be a point
of conflict between Afghanistan’s educated urban elite and conservative
Islamists and rural populations well into the twentieth century.
In other aspects of social life Afghanistan under Sher ‘Ali Khan
remained rooted in the past. Slavery was commonplace and there was no
attempt to introduce modern education, encourage literacy or provide
even basic health services. Rich Afghans employed private tutors, others
sent their children to be educated in India, either in the Mission schools
in Peshawar and Ludhiana, or Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s Muhammadan
Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. The religious elites, on the other hand,
favoured Indian madrasas, particularly the Darul Uloom at Deoband, as
suitable places for their children to pursue a traditional Islamic curriculum.
Known for its anti-colonial views and its focus on Hanafi jurisprudence and
religious texts, Deoband would have a profound influence on succeeding
generations of Afghan Islamists and ‘ulama’ who would lead the opposition
to attempts to introduce constitutional, educational and social reforms.