reform and repression, 1901–19endemic, while the influenza epidemic of 1919 led to the deaths of hundreds
of thousands of Afghans, especially in Kabul.
Incompetent and untrained oversight of capital projects led to spiral-
ling costs and extensive corruption. After eight years the hydroelectric
station at Jabal Saraj was abandoned, unfinished; the Seraj al-Amirat palace
at Jalalabad was so badly designed that the architect forgot to include any
internal toilets; while the pipes for Kabul’s potable water supply from the
Qargha Dam were never laid. As for the goods produced in the state-run
machin khana, the costs were up to four times higher than the same items
imported from India. Like Habib Allah Khan’s obsession with photog-
raphy, golf and tennis, his engagement with modern technology was just
another hobby.