afghanistanhe employed Barakat Allah as a subeditor on the Seraj al-Akhbar. Despite
frequent rebukes from the Amir, Tarzi continued to publish articles hostile
to British policy, so Habib Allah Khan cut Tarzi’s salary, threatened him
with deportation and ordered him to submit the proofs of the newspaper
so the Amir could personally approve the copy prior to publication. A
month or so before Habib Allah Khan was assassinated, the Amir finally
suspended publication of the Seraj al-Akhbar.
The internal pressures on the Amir increased when both Turkey and
Germany tried to persuade Afghanistan to declare war on Britain. A few
months after war broke out in Europe, the Ottoman Caliph sent a member
of the Turkish National Assembly to Afghanistan bearing a fatwa declaring
jihad against Britain. British intelligence managed to thwart the mission
before it reached Kabul, while a subsequent German-Turkish mission led
by Oskar von Niedermayer became bogged down in Iran. In the summer of
1915 the German Foreign Ministry, encouraged by American-based Indian
revolutionaries, sent a second mission to Kabul led by Werner Otto von
Hentig. 26 When he reached Iran, Hentig joined forces with Niedermayer
and despite many of their party being interned by Russian and British
forces, the mission managed to reach Herat and arrived in Kabul in
September 1915. On their arrival the Turkish officer in charge of Kabul’s
Military School formed his cadets up as a guard of honour for the mission,
an action that led to his summary dismissal.
The Hentig-Niedermayer Mission was a direct challenge to the Anglo-
Afghan alliance, for under the terms of the 1880 and 1893 treaties the Amir
ought to have turned the mission back at the frontier. However, Amir
Habib Allah Khan felt he had little choice but to allow the mission to come
to Kabul since Nasr Allah Khan and his heir apparent, ’Inayat Allah Khan,
along with most of his senior advisers, were in favour of entering the war
on the side of Turkey. There were also strident calls from mullahs and other
religious figures on the Afghan–Indian frontier for a jihad against Britain,
while in the streets of Kabul people openly accused the Amir of being a
kafir and a friend of kafirs. The admission of the German envoys was thus
a sop to the war party, even though Habib Allah Khan had no intention
of being dragged into the Great War.
The German mission was housed in the former palace of Bibi Halima
in Babur’s Gardens, but they were not allowed outside its walls. The Amir
then deliberately delayed their formal reception, but after more than a
month of kicking their heels the envoys went on hunger strike in protest.
In late October Hentig and Niedermayer were finally driven to Paghman,
where they had a secret audience with Amir Habib Allah Khan and his