afghanistanNadir Shah and the Charkhi familyAnother major cause of tension between the Musahiban dynasty and
Germany was the presence of anti-government agitators in Berlin led by
Ghulam Nabi Charkhi and his three brothers, Ghulam Jailani, ‘Abd al-Aziz
and Ghulam Siddiq, who were related by marriage to both ’Aman Allah
Khan and Mahmud Tarzi. The brothers were living abroad at the time of
the fall of ’Aman Allah Khan, and following Ghulam Nabi’s defeat at Kotal-i
Rabatak, the Charkhis sent a substantial amount of money to assist Nadir
Khan’s campaign, after they received assurances that Nadir Khan would
restore ’Aman Allah Khan to the throne. 20 When Nadir Shah reneged on
this promise the Charkhi brothers accused the Musahiban brothers of
usurping the throne and embarked on a sustained propaganda campaign
against the dynasty.
Nadir Shah’s response was to try to lure the Charkhis to Kabul, where
he could dispose of these troublesome enemies. Ghulam Jailani Khan even-
tually returned home and remained out of the public eye, but Ghulam Nabi
and Ghulam Siddiq continued their campaign against Nadir Shah. In the
summer of 1930 they met with ’Aman Allah Khan and Mahmud Tarzi in
Ankara and Ghulam Nabi subsequently published an open letter to Nadir
Shah demanding a plebiscite to determine who should rule Afghanistan. 21
Nadir Shah responded by stripping the Tarzis of their Afghan citizen-
ship and renewed his efforts to lure the two remaining brothers to come
to Kabul.
Nadir Shah eventually convinced Ghulam Jailani that he was genuine
in his desire for a reconciliation. Jailani agreed to travel to Berlin accom-
panied by Shah Wali Khan, who took with him a personal letter from Nadir
Shah and a pledge of safe conduct sealed on the Qur’an. Shah Wali even
offered to seal the reconciliation with a marriage alliance between the two
families and hinted that the reason why Nadir Shah was summoning them
to Kabul was because he wanted to discuss a transfer of power to ’Aman
Allah Khan. 22 It was probably the possibility of abdication that persuaded
Ghulam Nabi to trust Shah Wali’s promises and return home. He arrived in
Kabul in October 1932 and his first meeting with Nadir Shah, witnessed by
the foreign diplomatic corps, was a tense affair. 23 In the private meetings
that followed it soon became evident that Nadir Shah had no intention of
abdicating. Instead he demanded that Ghulam Nabi renounce his family’s
oath of allegiance to ’Aman Allah Khan and in return he promised him
safe passage to Ankara, on condition he never returned to Afghanistan.
As for Ghulam Jailani and Ghulam Siddiq, they would be appointed as