afghanistanrealized there was a European market for karakul and he made a fortune
exporting these lambskins. After the Bank-i Milli took over the karakul
trade, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz began exporting cotton to the ussr and encouraged
farmers in Qataghan and Balkh to expand the area under cotton cultiva-
tion, advancing them seed, fertilizer and farming equipment on credit. He
was supported in this enterprise by the governor of Qataghan, Sher Khan
Bandar, a Kharoti Ghilzai whose forebears had settled in Khanabad. In
order to expand the area under cash crops, Zabuli persuaded the govern-
ment to sell him large tracts of marshland around Qunduz at rock-bottom
prices, which he and Sher Khan sold on, or gifted, to Durrani and Kharoti
nomads from southern Afghanistan as well as Turkman refugees from
Soviet Central Asia. They then drained the land and planted cotton, rice,
vines and fruit trees. Within two decades Qunduz’s malarial marsh-
lands, which had been the haunt of wild boar and the now-extinct Oxus
tiger, were transformed into the most productive agricultural regions of
Afghanistan. Sher Khan later founded the Spinzar Cotton Company; in
honour of his achievements Qizil Qal‘a, the ford across the Amu Darya
on the Panj river, was renamed Sher Khan Bandar.
Londoni realized his survival depended on cooperating with govern-
ment enterprises and he undertook a number of joint ventures with the
Bank-i Milli, constructing ginning mills, soap factories and extraction
plants for cotton seed oil. However, while the local population saw little
benefit from the Bank-i Milli’s vast profits, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz made sure farm-
ers were paid well above market prices for their produce and operated a
highly effective credit scheme. He also built rural clinics, dug wells for
potable water and improved sanitation. Londoni’s immense efforts eventu-
ally wore him out and he died in 1938 at the early age of 55. After his death,
the government nationalized the cotton trade and all the light industries
he had set up.
The Musahiban dynasty and Anglo-Afghan relationsAnother major challenge the Musahiban government faced was repairing
the relationship with Britain, which had been badly damaged by ’Aman
Allah Khan’s declaration of independence and the Third Anglo-Afghan
War. British officials welcomed the change of government, but they were
uncertain as to what policy Nadir Shah would adopt towards India and the
tribes. Nadir Shah, after all, had led the invasion of Waziristan and the attack
on Thal during the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Then in 1929 he had ignored
British protests and recruited Waziris from the India side of the frontier