Evening star., 1928-12-20
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

The Ameer of Afghanistan and his
Queen are fugitives seeking safety from
their rebellious subjects. They have
hidden in a fort, where are soldiers
whom they trust to be loyal, but
whether their confidence is well placed
remains to be proved.
The offense which is charged against
the royal ruler is that Of undertaking
to modernize the institutions and prac-
tices of the Afghans beyond the COM
prehension and approval Of the con-
Servative tribal sentiment. For Ameer
(King) Amanullah has visited Europe
and seen the wonders of the West, and
he forgets Kipling's warning:
ooh, East is East and West is West,
And never the twain shall meet"
King Amanullah has endeavored to
compel their meeting, by royal decree.
Hence his throne topples. His Queen
has been so very radical as to influence
him to make polygamy unlawful-as
Outrageous" an act as it would be in
American to decree the reverse, COM
manding all good husbands to take on
two or three extra wives. At least that
progreSSivenesS is ascribed as the main
reason for the revolt. but there are
more Sordid motives manifested also
such as a dispute with the Mohmand
Tribe over revenue matters, and an
eager joining the revolt by other
tribes bent on loot and rapine. An
other motive for revolt is said to be
arrears in the pay of the army How
much Russian Bolshevism may have
to do with it also may be surmised
in the light of the fact that for a
century there has been rivalry between
Russia and Great Britain over the
buffer state of Afghanistan, which
stands between Russia in Asia and
British India.
The country which so suddenly steps
into the limelight is wild, mountain
Gus region, 500 miles from north to south
by 900 miles from east to west. 1t is
peopled by 100000. made up of 3.000-
600 AfghanS and the rest Arabs, Jews,
Kaffirs, HaZaras and Baluchis-unas-
simulated with the Afghans, yet con-
stituting several minoritieS, unsym-
pathetic with each other. The At
ghanS live in the country districts; the
others largely occupy the cities, and
engage in industry, which is despised
by the higher ranks of Afghans as de-
grading to a man. The chief city is
the capital, Kabul, with a population
OF 10000. This city marks the most
eastern penetration of Alexander the
Great, who here built fort
X X X X
Whatever may be the motives of the
rebels, they are not so interesting as
are the characters of the fugitive King
Amanullah and of his Queen Souriya
Europe has not ceased to gasp in
astoniShment at the recent tour of its
principal countries by this Oriental
monarch, attired in a sky-blue satin
coat and crimson satin trousers, while
he fingered his jeweled sword, ever by
his side, and asked unending questions.
He arrived first in Italy, where he
was met by the King and later by Mus
solini. He visited Paris and London
and Moscow. He was impressed by
what he saw of Western civilization, al
though, could he have gone back a
thousand years or farther-to the fifth
and sixth centuries-he might have
awed Europe with the superiority of
AfghaniStan progress over the benighted
condition of the West.
When he left his kingdom for this
trip it was his intention to circumnavi-
gate the globe and visit America on his
way, but state affairs brought his jour-
ney to an end more abruptly, and so
he returned home. Then his troubles
really began.
X X X
He declared the independence of his
country from Great Britain, which for
decades has been paying some $4,000
year for the right of controlling
Afghanistan'S foreign relations.
That declaration of independence at
once depleted the income of the
Afghanistan treasury and tended to in
crease local taxation. The tribes might
have endured the increased costs OF
government, but when it came to adopt
ing the nonSensical custom of having
only one wife per man. when anybody
knew that many men could afford three
or four-So long as the women worked
why, that was going too far!
Then. as If that were not enough,
what did Queen Souriya propose but to
abolish ''purdah"-the practice of keep
ing women beyond partition in all
rooms where both sexes assembled. In
America, we hear that the place of
woman is in the home; in the Orient,
the accepted place for woman is not
only in the home. but behind the 'pur-
dah" Women should be heard not
seen. excepta.by their own husbands and