A History Of Afghanistan Vol 1
Loading...
Date
1940
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Description
Few countries present problems of greater interest to the
historian than landlocked Afghanistan, the counterpart
in Asia of Switzerland in Europe.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century B.c. the
first great migration of the Aryans swept across this
rugged country in their long march from their homeland
in Central Asia to the plains of India. We next read of
Alexander the Great leading his army up the valley of the
Helmand and crossing the mighty range of the Hindu
Kush into Bactria, to win laurels in Central Asia. Two
years later he again crossed these mountains and marched
down the passes into the valley of the Indus to gain fresh
victories in the Punjab. From this province he led his
war-weary veterans across the deserts of Baluchistan to
triumphal celebrations at Susa.
Coming down the ages, we see another famous
conqueror in Baber who, after capturing Kabul, founded
the Moghul empire of India early in the sixteenth
century. From this period his successors were faced
with the necessity of maintaining Afghanistan as a buffer
state against attacks from the Shahs of Persia to the west,
and from the Uzbeg rulers of Bukhara to the north.
By the Moghul Emperors Kabul and Kandahar were
rightly recognized to be the keys of India and the
British, who succeeded the Moghuls, are faced with the
same problem today, with Russia as the successor of
Bukhara.
I first travelled in Central Asia nearly fifty years ago
and, since that journey, I have been a keen student of
the problems of which Afghanistan constitutes the
kernel. The appointments which I have held have,
generally speaking, kept m~ in touch with Afghanistan,
whether serving as Consul in Seistan, as Consul ·General
in Khurasan (where I was in political charge of the I Ierat
province through a native Agent), or again as ConsulGeneral
in Chinese Turkistan, when I travelled on the
Pamirs. For many years I took part in the struggle for
influence in Persia with Russia and, during the last
Great War, I helped to foil Germany in her esi~ns on
Afghanistan by the capture of her supporting missions in
Persia.
In writing this work, the first complete history of
Afghanistan, my aim has been to supply British officials
and the British public with accurate information. lf
the results of my studies and journeys are also appreciated
by Moslems in Afghanistan and India, I shall be doubly rewarded.
Keywords
afghanistan, history of afghanistan, BRIG.-GEN. SIR PERCY SYKES, history of afghanistan vol 1