The Washington times., 1921-11-06


utmost to gain the undisputed upper
hand in Afghanistan. Officially
England bought 1t with the annual
tribute Of 100000 regularly paid to
the Amir. who thus left his foreign
affairs In the hands of the Briton.
England fought several wars Of wan
ton aggression with Afghanistan.
The first Afghan war of 1S38-1S42
resulted so disastrously for the Bri-
tish that only one soldier out Of 16. 900
reached Jellalabad to tell the story.
The last war was fought in 1919.
Fighting, however, is still continu-
ously going on in the Afghan borders
between the British forces and the
Afghan tribesmen. The London
newspapers are frequently publish
ing accounts Of such encounters.
The British papers in India are
suggesting that the Russian Govern.
ment is financing these raids. II
will indeed be long before the truth
Is known. In the meantime. Colonel
Yate. a member Of the British Par.
lament. has asked for the deporta.
tion Of Mahatma Gandhi, for the
latter frankly told a special CORES.
pondent Of the London Daily Tele-
graph that he preferred Bolshevism
to British rule"
The Russo-Afghan bugbear has
scared the Briton to such an extent
that In the frontiers the British ara
busy night and day building forti.
fications and digging trenches; and
even the Manchester Guardian is
editorially advocating the building
in India's Afghan frontier q "belt
OF wire such as was built before tho
trenches OF the Western front 'ss
with tho modern appliances for
alarm"
BRITAIN'S SAVAGE REVENGE.
On the assassination Of Amir Hab-
fSullah Khan. on February 20, 1919,
his third son. Amanullah Khan,
ascended the throne, and as a pro-
test against the assassination of his
beloved father. which was supposed
to have been inspired by British
agents, he declared the complets
independence of Afghanistan. and
at once declared war on the British
government in India.
His army invaded British India
and occupied strategic peaks and
passes. Defeated in battle, the
British took reprisals on the civil
populations of Afghanistan by
throwing deadly bombs from aero
planes and thus killing thousands
OF unarmed men, women and chill
dren In undefended cities.
After much bloodshed on both
sides, a treaty of peace was signed
on August IL, 1919, at Rawalpindi.
The victorious Afghan forced the
Vanquished Briton to openly state
in black and white: "Afghanistan is
left officially free and independent
in Its affairs. both internal and ex.
ternal. Furthermore, all previous
treaties have been Cancelled by this
war"
General Valy Kahn has been de-
claring this fact of Afghanistan's
complete independence at the major
capitals Of the world.
What is Afghanistan?" | was
recently asked by an American. The
average American does not know
whether Afghanistan is the name OF
a man, a country or bird: a noun
tain, flower or a constellation. It
Is. In fact, a country on the north
west Of India, nesting against the
roof OF the world.
On the map OF Asia, the largest
continent, Afghanistan appears like
very small country. But this
mountainous country covers an area
of 250,000 square miles. In other
words. four countries like France,
Belgium. Holland and Denmark can
easily be placed within its boundac.
les and II has population OF about
100000. That Is to say, one-tenth
of the population OF the United
States lives in Afghanistan.
II is buffer state between India
and Asiatic Russia on one side and