afghanistannations, Afghanistan was one of the least likely places to implement the
kind of rapid revolution envisaged by ’Aman Allah Khan and the Young
Afghans.
The failure of the reform movement was therefore due in part to the
naivety of its advocates, combined with their lack of understanding of the
processes that led to Europe and Turkey’s technological, intellectual and
social revolution. Government efforts to seek consensus were mostly token
and the king was foolish enough to believe that his subjects would obey his
decrees without question. Reformers themselves eventually despaired as
the king vacillated between the pursuit of a reformist agenda and capitu-
l ation to Islamic conservatives. In the end the king’s often bizarre decrees
and declarations split the reform movement between those, such as the
Musahiban brothers, who realized change could only be achieved as a
long-term process, and the Tarzi and the Young Afghans who, like the
king, believed transformation could happen overnight.
The fall of ’Aman Allah Khan is often attributed to the negative impact
of his Grand Tour, in particular the appearance of an unveiled Queen
Soraya; however, as we have seen, the reasons for ’Aman Allah Khan’s
downfall are far more complex. As Humphrys noted:
It would be a mistake to suppose that the primary cause of King
Amanullah’s downfall is to be found in the resolutions which he
formed during the European tour. He has admitted to me that ever
since he came to the throne he has been impelled by an uncon-
trollable desire to bring about the complete modernisation of his
country during his own lifetime. 62According to Humphrys it was the promulgation of the Nizam Namas
that marked the beginning of the end for ’Aman Allah Khan, however oppo-
sition to the idea of a Constitution emerged in Kandahar as early as 1921.
Arguably the fall of ’Aman Allah Khan can be traced back to his decision to
invade India, for the defeat exposed the weakness of the army and under-
mined the king’s credibility. This encouraged tribal discontent, which later
coalesced around the debate about gender, the nation’s Islamic identity and
Europeanization. The war also broke the symbiotic relationship between
Afghanistan and Britain, which led to the loss of the annual subsidy and
Britain’s formal commitment to maintain Afghanistan’s territorial integrity.
All of this indirectly weakened ’Aman Allah Khan’s hold on power.
Instead of going to war, King ’Aman Allah Khan would have been far
better served by following up his declaration of independence with an