afghanistan1921 ’Aman Allah Khan ratified the Soviet-Afghan Treaty, Dobbs broke
off negotiations and prepared to leave. On the eve of his departure, the
Amir intervened personally and offered to sign a statement of ‘neigh-
bourly relations’ with Britain. Dobbs agreed and at the end of November
the agreement was signed.
The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 was a face-saving exercise by both
sides and, given the circumstances, it was the best either party could
have expected. The treaty was little more than another memorandum or
aide-memoire, but even so it was a landmark in Afghanistan’s history since
Britain formally recognized the country’s independence and agreed to
refer to the Amir as His Majesty in all official communications. Britain’s
demand that the Soviet-Afghan Treaty be revoked was dropped and the
embargo on importing arms from India was lifted – with some caveats
- while the Afghan government reaffirmed its acceptance of Durand’s
‘Indo-Afghan Frontier’. Britain agreed to formalize diplomatic relations
with the opening of an Afghan Legation in London and consulates in
Delhi, Karachi, Calcutta and Bombay, while a British Legation, headed
by a British Minister, was to be established in Kabul. However, the Amir’s
annual subsidy was not reinstated and Britain’s undertaking to defend
Afghanistan from unprovoked external aggression was not renewed. The
outcome was that Afghanistan was weakened politically, militarily and
financially. Perhaps most important of all, the Amir could no longer rely
on Britain to defend Afghanistan from a Soviet invasion.
Moscow took advantage of this situation. With Enver Pasha in retreat,
the Soviet government expelled the Afghan representative from Bukhara
and suspended financial, military and technical aid on the grounds that the
Amir’s support for the basmachis and the Amir of Bukhara was a breach
of the Soviet-Afghan Treaty. Moscow then threatened to attack basmachi
bases in northern Afghanistan if the Amir did not close the border and
cut off aid to the rebels. ’Aman Allah Khan had little choice but to comply.
Nadir Khan was recalled to Kabul, the Amu Darya frontier sealed and the
Afghan Volunteer Force disbanded – decisions that contributed signifi-
cantly to Enver Pasha’s defeat and death. As for the ex-Khan of Bukhara,
he was forced to vacate his town house in central Kabul and move to a
small cottage in rural Chahardeh.
The threat of a Soviet incursion was not the only reason why Amir
’Aman Allah Khan threw the basmachis to the wolves, or rather the bear.
Shortly after arriving in Qataghan, Nadir Khan had written to warn the
Amir that Afghanistan’s northern frontier was undefended and that Afghan
support for a movement that demanded an independent Turco-Tajik state