reform and repression, 1901–19
In the ensuing decades, the debate over social and political reform
became increasingly polarized with the Amirs battling to balance the
demands for modernization and political and legal reform, promoted
mainly by a younger, better-educated generation, with those of the powerful
conservative Islamic lobby. The return of the exiles was partly respon-
sible for exacerbating these fault lines as Tarzi’s Turcophiles, in particular,
demanded fast, radical change. Unfortunately, one of the many negative
legacies of ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan’s reign was the belief, espoused by both
Afghans and Europeans, that the only way Afghanistan could be ruled
was by an absolutist monarch backed by state terror. Consequently some
mis interpreted Habib Allah Khan’s attempts at conciliation as a sign of
weakness, while political and ideological enemies exploited his tentative
reforms as a means to undermine his power and the Anglo-Afghan alliance.
Amir Habib Allah Khan and Anglo-Afghan relationsWhile Amir Habib Allah Khan struggled with the issue of reform, relations
with Britain turned sour. The problem began with a dispute with Russia
over riparian rights to the waters of the Hari Rud and Murghab, with the
Russians accusing the Afghans of helping themselves to more than their
fair share of water for irrigation. Then a number of boundary pillars on the
Herat–Murghab frontier either disappeared or were deliberately vandal-
ized. In an attempt to resolve these issues Sa‘ad Allah Khan, the governor
of Herat, negotiated directly with his counterpart across the frontier in
breach of the Lyall Agreement of 1880 and the subsequent Anglo-Russian
Accord of 1900. The situation was not helped by the fact that the Amir
had recently divorced one of his wives, the daughter of the Herat governor.
Britain complained to the Russian Foreign Ministry about holding
direct talks with the Afghan governor, but St Petersburg argued that since
the dispute was not political, the governor had every right to discuss local
issues with his counterpart across the frontier. Britain rejected this inter-
pretation of the Anglo-Russian Accord since it opened the door for Russia
to send agents to Herat, ostensibly to discuss riparian rights, but covertly
obtaining valuable military intelligence, stirring up anti-British senti-
ment and encouraging the disaffected governor to rebel. Lord Curzon,
the Viceroy, invited Amir Habib Allah Khan to Peshawar to discuss the
Herat frontier crisis, in the hope that the Amir would agree to renew
the Lyall and Durand agreements or, preferably, sign a new treaty more
favourable to Britain’s interests. As far as Curzon was concerned, a new
Anglo-Afghan treaty was essential since it was unclear if the agreements