The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-10-02
Ayoob Khan... The Life and Career OF an
- Afghanistan Chieftain.

The victory of Ayoob Khan will have
the effect of bringing this young Prince
of the Barakzai House prominently for
ward as an active participation in the
guidance of events in Eastern Afghan
istan. Up to the present time he had
held aloof from the Vaccinations at
Cabul and Candahar, and the view had
become general that he was either per-
sonally incompetent orindifferent to the
progress of affairs. Both opinions are
now shown to be fallacious by the sue
cess of the Herati army. and Ayoob
Khan will henceforth occupy a promi-
nent place in the imagination of the
Afghan people as their most successful
champion. While his name will I'M
doubleday serve to give. increased cohe-
sion to the so-called National party, his
birth, together with the promise of abil-
itynow afforded, will tend to make him
among his followers the natural success
sor of his brother Yakoob. Whereas
he had up to the present remained in
the background, circumstances have
now brought him prominently forward,
and in the future settlement of Afghan
istan the role he will play must necessa-
rily be an important one.
Ayoob, so far as our information goes,
is the son of the late Ameer Shere Ali,
by the daughter of the Momaud Chief
of Lalpura, thus being the full brother
of Yakoob Khan. He was born in or
about the year 1851, and took part in
the campaign of 1868, which resulted
in the triumph of Yakoob and the res
toration of Shere Ali to the throne. His
name was not mentioned, however, I'M
til much later period. In 1871 Yakoob
had fallen into disfavor with his father,
and had for safety withdrawn from Ca
bull. In the following year he retired
to Seistan, and soon afterward, gather
ing round him small band of adven-
turers, among whom Ayoob was promi-
nent, he attacked Herat and expelled
Shere Ali's Governor. Until the close
of the year 1874 Yakoob ruled there in
independent state, and he was assisted
in the task of government by his young
brother Ayoob. In the year mentioned
the well. known attempt to reconcile the
conflicting pretensions of Shere Ali and
his son was made, and Yakoob went
under safe contract to Cabul. During
his absence he had left Ayoob in charge
of Herat, but the prompt measures taken
by the Ameer and the skill shown by
his General, Omar Khan, made his rule
there one of very brief duration. On
the approach of Shere Ali's army he fled
to Persia, where he was granted an hon
orable reception, and allotted pension
by the Shah. Frons.l 1874 until the flight
of Shere Ali from Cabul, in December,
1878, he resided in Persia, generally at
Meshed, but When the Afghan power
crumbled away in its first contact with
our own he saw that an opportunity
offered itself for establishing him
self in Herat. The Governor nomi-
mated by the Ameer was apparently
loathe to refuse an entrance to Ayoob at
time when common danger seemed
to sink all party differences, but as soon
as the young Prince had obtained adj
mission into Herat he intrigued, and
successfully against his fathers repre-
sentative. When Yakoob Khan was
negotiating with us at Gandamak his
brother Ayoob had so far consolidated
his power in the West that he was in a
position to send fresh troops to take
| part inthe war against ourselves. These
arrived on the scene too late, for the
Treaty of Gandamak had been signed.
1t is generally understood that Ayoob,
on learning the conclusion of the war,
reproached his brother for having made
territorial concessions to the Infidel;
and the part taken by the Herati levies
in the attack on the Cabul Residency
will also be remembered as substantial.
ing this view.
Ayoob showed no inclination to leave
Herat and come to Cabul after the
withdrawal of our troops last year-a
circumstance which may be attributed
! either to his Discrimination to surfen-
der independent authority, or to the
consideration that communication
through Candahar was only practicable
with our assent. Even after the out
break of the last campaign he long re-
manned passive, and, despite frequent
rumors, it was only within the last few
weeks that he showed any inclination
to take an active part in the progress of
events. His success will inevitably
make him the natural leader of the
party of Yakoob; and while everything
depends on his skill, recollections are
unavoidably aroused of the former
prowess and ability shown by his broth
er IN the same quarter where he is now
operating. He, doubtless, hopes to
emulate the career of his uncle, the
famous Akbar Khan; but he will find
that the state of affairs is vastly differ
ent now from what it was in 1912. 1t
would be as impossible as it is unnec-
essary to deny that Ayoob has shown
that he possesses something of the great
qualities which have made the Barak-
zais supreme in Afghanistan during the
last three generations. Times.