The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-10-03

tndL the AulccF Is D6LlcVcQ e1lucE W
hate eoniivsd at tie recent outbseAk or,
at least, to have been forced to sanction
the movement in sen-defence. What
special tie, for instance, attaches to him
the Mahmunds, who, we are told, have
taken an active part in the uprising?
What is the source of his influence over
the great Ghilzai group, whom, accord
ing to 3 telegram, he has called to arms?
Above all, what is the precise relation
of the present ruler, and Of his dynasty,
to the powerful Durani clan which has
long formed the dominant element in
Afghanistan? Some clear notion Of
of these matters is essential to an under
standing of current kilograms.
Both from a numerical and an his
torical point of view the two foremost
tribes OF the Afghan or Pathan race are
the Ghilzais and the Duranis. The an
cestral home of the latter lies in and
about Herat, stretching to point some
what beyond Candahar. That city,
however, was originally included in the
Ghilzai country, which still covers the
whole southeastern part of Afghanistan.
The Ghilzais are reputed to be descend
ed from the illegitimate son of an exiled
Persian Prince, Shah Hussein, but they
were the first to throw of the Persian
yoke and to give independence to the
Afghan tribes who previously had been
ruled from Ispahan or from Delhi. 1t
was not much more than q century and
n half ago that the Ghilzais in the neigh
borhoOd of Candahar rose against their
Persian governor, and made one Of their
chiefs, Mir Vais, King.
The dynasty thus created in 1907 had
a brilliant but short career, and was de-
throned in 1877 by the Persian General,
Nadir Shah. The latter had been as
sisted in his Eastern conquests By an
Afghan chief named Ahmed Khan, the
head of the SudOsye family Of the Abb
dali clan. After the death of Nadir
Shah, his Afghan lieutenant set himself
up as King in Candahar, the difference
between his dynasty and that of Mir
Vais being that in the latter case the
Ghilzais and in the former the Abdalis
were the controlling tribe. in the hope
of appeasing the enmity between these
clans, which, however, has not been
wholly healed to this day, Ahmed as
sumed the title of Duri-i-D Duran (Pcarl
of the Age), and henceforth the Abdalis
became known as the Duranis. At the
present day the Duranis are much the
stronger, numbering about three-quar-
tiers of million souls, whereas their
traditional rivals do not muster more
than three or four hundred thousand.
The dominant tribe is generally credited
with more spirit and bravery, though
the Ghilzais have given ample proof of
martial qualities.
1t is not, however, to the SudOsye
branch of the Duranis that Yacob Khan
belongs. During the latter years of the
last century and the earlier years of the
present, the Ghilzais kept up the strug-
gle for supremacy, and, though they
were unable to gain the throne for them
selves, they helped to transfer it to an
other subdivision of the Duranis. Under
one of Ahmed Khan's successors chief
of the Barucksye branch became sort
of mayor of the palace, and, after his
murder, brother who was to be well
known as DOst MOhammed displaced
the SudOsye line, and became sole Ameer
ut Cabul. It was not, however, until
1843 that the new Barucksye house was
firmly established in the mastery of the
whole country. ..'s .a-.
Thus it appears that Dost Mohammed
and his grandson, the present ruler, can
invoke the ties of hereditary clanhOOd
only as regards one branch of the Durani
tribe, and must find in the other their
most implacablc enemies. Heretofore
the GhilZais have uniformly supported
the present dynasty from their hatred of
the Sudosye line, which had supplanted
their own leaders. Moreover, YacOb
Khan has special hold upon them, hav-
ing married the daughter of one of their
most prominent chiefs. 1t was this fact
quite as much rs Lord NorthbrOOk's
protest which saved Jacobs life when
five years ago he was arrested by his IA
ther and thrown into prison, from which
he only emerged upon Shere Ais flight
from Cabul 10
1t is also through family relationship
that the present ruler exercises peculiar
control over the MOhmunds, his mother
having been the daughter of one of their
chiefs. NOwrOz Khan, who was sup
posed some months ago to have brought
the MOhmunds over to the British side,
is Jacobs maternal uncle. This tribe,
it must be remembered, occupy the ter
ritOry adjoining the Khyber Pass upon
the north, and they are said to be able
to put from 1900 to 10000 men into
the field. Between the Khyber Pass and
the Kuram Pass dwell the Afridis, whom
the Ameer can only influence by sub
sides, in which, of course, the English
can Outbid him. The same may be said
of the Waziris, whose country lies south
Of tho Kuram Valley II was On Arid;