nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47al-Rahman Khan wanted the former Durrani capital to be an integral part
of Afghanistan.
‘Abd al-Rahman Khan decided to move nearer to Kabul in case the
British withdrew. In July 1880 he arrived in Charikar, where the religious
leaders and elders from Panjshir, Kohistan and Tagab came and ‘kissed
his stirrup’. On 19 July he received a letter from Griffin, which informed
him that Britain was prepared to accord him official recognition as Amir
of Kabul and invited him to the capital for the inauguration ceremony. The
announcement caught ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan by surprise, so he convened
a hasty jirga of as many religious and tribal leaders as he could muster
and the following day they pledged their allegiance to him. Two days later
Griffin publicly proclaimed ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan as Amir of Kabul in
absentia, for the sardar was still in Charikar.
Throughout the two decades of Amir ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan’s reign,
British officials always maintained it was Britain who had conferred legit-
imacy on the Amir since, by right of conquest, sovereignty belonged to the
victors. ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan, on the other hand, maintained his legi t-
imacy was based on the ‘election’ of 20 July 1880, which he claimed was a
form of national assembly. In fact the tribal and religious leaders present
at the jirga were mostly from the Kabul region and there were no repre-
sentatives of the Durranis, Mushk-i ‘Alam and his Ghilzais or the other
Ya‘qubids who had spearheaded resistance to the occupation. Griffin did
eventually secure written pledges of loyalty to ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan from
a number of Ghilzai tribes around Ghazni, but ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan’s
claim that he had been elected by the nation at large had no basis in fact.
Maiwand and KandaharGriffin’s decision to negotiate a handover of power with ‘Abd al-Rahman
Khan was in part a panic reaction to a sudden change in British military
fortunes in southwestern Afghanistan. Shortly after Stewart left Kandahar,
the religious establishment issued a fatwa condemning the British-backed
governor, Sher ‘Ali Khan, as an unlawful ruler. ‘Ayub Khan, informed of
this decree, set out for Kandahar at the head of a large and well-equipped
army. Sher ‘Ali Khan marched out to confront ‘Ayub, but when he crossed
the Helmand he discovered that the Herat army was far larger than he
had anticipated. Sher ‘Ali appealed to Brigadier General Burrows, the gar -
rison commander in Kandahar, to come to his aid, whereupon Burrows
set out with 2,400 men, but by the time he reached Girishk most of Sher
‘Ali Khan’s men had defected.