backs to the future, 1929–33ambassadors to Japan and Germany respectively. If the brothers refused
to submit, however, they would have to face the consequences.
Ghulam Nabi was given a week to consider the ultimatum, but early on
the morning of 8 November 1932 soldiers from the Royal Guard arrived at
the family home and ordered the two brothers to attend the king immedi-
ate ly. 24 When they arrived, Nadir Shah angrily produced documents that
he claimed proved Ghulam Nabi was behind a recent revolt in Gardez.
Ghulam Nabi denied the accusation and heaped insults on the king, where-
upon Nadir Khan ordered his bodyguard to club him to death with their
rifle butts. Following his execution more than a hundred members of the
extended Charkhi family and their retainers were thrown into jail. The
king subsequently tried to give a veneer of legitimacy to this extrajudicial
killing by presenting written evidence of Ghulam Nabi’s alleged treason to
three separate judicial bodies. Not unexpectedly, all of them found Ghulam
Nabi guilty and endorsed the king’s actions.
The execution of Ghulam Nabi sparked a blood feud between the
Musahiban and Charkhi families that was perpetuated by Ghulam Siddiq,
who had stayed behind in Berlin. In June 1933 Nadir Shah’s half-brother
Muhammad ‘Aziz Khan, who was the Afghan ambassador in Germany,
was shot dead by Sayyid Kemal, an engineering student and former pupil
of Nejat High School. When he was interrogated by the Gestapo, Sayyid
Kemal claimed he had acted in order to restore ’Aman Allah Khan to the
throne, while the government in Kabul accused Ghulam Siddiq Charkhi
of being behind the assassination. In retaliation Ghulam Jailani Charkhi,
Sher Muhammad Khan Charkhi and several former ministers of ’Aman
Allah Khan were executed.
‘Aziz Khan’s assassination strained Afghanistan’s relations with
Germany. The Afghan government complained that Germany had failed
to protect its diplomats and was angered when Germany refused to extra-
dite Sayyid Kemal or put him on trial. The problem was that since the
crime had taken place inside the Afghan embassy, Germany had no legal
jurisdiction. Eventually, in the interests of German-Afghan relations, a
court sentenced Sayyid Kemal to death and he was executed in January
- Three months after ‘Aziz Khan’s assassination, Muhammad ‘Azim, a
teacher at Nejat High School, entered the British Legation in Kabul on 6
September 1933 and shot dead three staff members. When interrogated,
Muhammad ‘Azim confessed he had planned to assassinate the British
Minister in the hope that Britain would depose Nadir Shah and return
’Aman Allah Khan to power.