ENLIGHTENED RULER

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 106, 7 May 1928, Page 10

ENLIGHTENED RULER

CAMPAIGN OF MODERNISM OrtiEX AS COMPANION (From "The Post's" .Scprcseiitativo.) LONDON, 21st March. King Amanullah of Afghanistan has so firmly established tho atmosphere of peace throughout his country, and so imprinted the moderating influence of his personality upon it, that he is now about to absent himself from his realm for several months on end, a step which none of his predecessors would have dared to take. King Amanullah is the third son of the Amir Habibullah Khan, and was bom in ISD2. His mother, Ulya Hazrat, w-as the Amir's principal wife. His father was murdered near Jalalabad in 1919. Nasrullah Khan, the Amir's brother, then seized the throne, although the late Amir had nominated his eldest . son Amanullah as claimant. Eventually But Nasrullah Khan's rule was not successful, and Ulya Hazrat, King Amanullah's mother, who was a person of great character and influence, set up her son Smanullah as claimant. Eventually, with the assistance of tho army, she seized the throne for her son, and placed Nasrullah Khan in prison, where he died. Inaytullah Khan, King Amanullah's elder half-brother, then renounced nlt'claims to the throne. Far-sighted the King hits shown himself to be in Ihe direction of modern developments in Afghanistan. On. the military side, with its temptations to a monarch in a position like his, he has exercised a restraining hand, curbing military expenditure to tho utmost compatible with discretion in order to have the more to spend on education and other ameliorating services. To popularise and extend education has been one of his most keenly followed aims. SUPPRESSION OF REBELLION. Tho prolonged and bitter' rebellion in the south-eastern provinces of his kingdom three years ago was an expression of the ultra-conservatism of the religious teachers in face of what they regarded as his new-fangled heresies, sueh1 as the education of girls, i "These mullahs create an unfortunate | situation; they divide the people instead of .doing them any good," said his Majesty, in his speech in reply to the addresses in India. The finest tri- i buto that, one can pay to his statesman-

ship in face, of such difficulties is to point to the change that has come over Afghanistan since the critical days of that revolt. The rebellion was firm!"suppressed, and by a wise blending of firmness and concession the King has between that day and Ihis firmly established au atmosphere of. peace throughout his country. By treaty signed with the British in 1919, Afghanistan was left a free and independent country. Amanullah's power is absolute, und his one aim in life is the betterment of his kingdom, which, L' 50,000 square miles in extent, is approximately the size of the German Kmpi re. before the war. He rules a population of nearly 7,000,000 people in a territory three-fourths of which is mountainous. Few kings work so hard as he, and at, the same time extract as much pleasure from life. He is occupied ten hours every- day with affairs of State. lie has a. passion for motoring, and will cheerfully go without, sleep to drive one of his Uolls-Koyeo cars throughout Hie. night over the difficult and tortuous roads. He had flown in the airplanes of his army and enjoys nothing better than a day's duck or snipe shooting. Jlis prowess with the shot-gun is almost equalled by his accomplishment at tennis, which he plays in the gardens of his palace at Kabul with the young men of his court. The King's love of motoring is shared by his Queen. AN ENERGETIC WORKER. The nature of the King's influences in social life (writes the. Delhi correspondent of ''The Times") is sufficiently shown by his firm upholding of the ideal of monogamy in his personal life. He is the first Oriental monarch to visit Kurope with his Queen, adopting European habits of life and the sloughing of purdah restrictions. The Queen is a daughter of the Afghan Foreign Minister, Mahomed Beg Tarsi. Indications of the progressive spirit encouraged in Afghanistan are provided by the prevalence of men's dress in the European style and the considerable displacement of t-'lO typical Astrakhan fez by the Horn berg hat. King Aiuauullah does not spare hims'jlf, and lie likes those about him to be as energetic as he is. In the political sphere he is as cautiously progressive as in other directions, and governs through Ministers and with the nearest equivalent of a popular legislative Chamber which the conditions of his people render possible. The members of this body arc nominated by the Sovereign. The opening of the doors to foreign experts of various kinds is another illustration of the King's enlightened ideals, for numerous such foreigners arc employed in the State, some as educationists, some as military instructors, others as doctors, airmen, engineers, and so on. Seven foreign countries now maintain legations in Kabul. TOWN-PLANNING. Town-planning and building, road building, and travel are the King's most serious hobbies. Ho is building a new Capital City about $ix miles cut of Kabul. I)ar ul Atuan it is called, the name being taken from his own and meaning "The Abode of Peace." At present it consists of some very v^llplanned secretariat buildings, a new royal palace, and a few private houses for leading public officers of the State. It is laid out on modern lines as regards roads and sanitation, and will take some years to complete. Euthusiiism for the new city has not led the King to neglect the requirements of the old. The extensive Kabul factories are driven by electricity from a hydroelectric installation which has undergone considerable development since its establishment by the Into Ameer Habibiillah. There has recently been inaugurated a pipe water supply, the water being brought in from the Paghmaii Mountains, several miles away. The King is also .planning a new city at Kandahar, a place which he has frequently visited since his accession. His journey to the seaboard for his voyage to Kurope was by Kandahar. UNVEILED QUEEN. A remarkable thing is that India and Europe have seen much more of Queen Souriya than have her own subjects, for though Western ideas arc fast penetrating Afghanistan, it is still a rigorous rule that the Queen must not bo seen unveiled in her own land, save by the women of the Court, her relatives, and her women guests. Even her photograph is taboo there. At the palace at Kabul, where the King and Queen spend most of the year, Queen Souriya entertains a good deal, giving dinners in the European stylo to the women of the Court and the wives of the Legation officials. Everybody, European and Afghan, agrees that she is a charming hostess, despite the obvious difficulty imposed by her lingual limitations, for she speaks no tongue except Persian, which is the language of the Court and the educated classes in Kabul. Queen Souriya is a sportswoman. She plays a good game of badminton on her private courts at the palace, is a capable horsewoman, riding a good deal around Kabul, and ( is very keen on motoring. On the voyage to Europe she played deck tennis quite successfully. When she accompanies the King on State functions in their own country they invariably motor in one of: their Ilolls-Uoyces. She is still on the sunny side of thirty, and has had eight children, two of whom —boys—are dead. There remain in Kabul the eldest girls of twelve and ten, a little girl of three, and a baby boy now approaching his second birthday. Prince Bahmatulla, the eldest boy of the marriage, aged nine, and a sister, aged eight, are being educated in Switzerland.