ARE THE AFGHANS TRUE?

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 108, 30 May 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARE THE AFGHANS TRUE?

j The correspondent of the Times of India with tbe Boundary Delimitation Commission, in a letter dated 18th March, raised doubts as to whether the feelings of the Ameer reflected those of lu3 people. "The Afghans," he said, ''are less eager j every day to fight the Russians, and I am afraid unless the Sultan uses his influence with the moolaJis, not only will the Afghan troops not assist us, but they will oppose the march of the troops through Afghanistan. The Afghans somehow are less anti-Russ than they were, and I believe they have an idea that the English will divide with the Russians. Not until yesterday would they allow any English officer to be sent to Herat ; at last they consented. Colonel Stewait, Majors Holdichand Gore, engineers, went yesterday to Herat. In case of war I do not think we shall enter Herat. We shall probably take up a stronger position in the valley, a couple of miles off. The people of Herat are indifferent, and I hear they say they will not fight on any side. You may depend on this, unless the Sultan brings his religious influence to bear on the moolahs, the people of Afghanistan and the Ameer's soldiers will not do much for us. A considerable party, Russian or anti-Englisb, may arise. I hear to-day from a Persian that a Turkish officer and moolah from Constantinople with some Turks arrived in Meshed and proceeded in some hurry to Bokhara. This has caused a little sensation in Meshed. Mussulmans in this part of Asia are not favourable to England ; the contest in Egypt has aroused the moolahs, and I have heard many of them say that England is becoming anti-Mussul-man. The Mahdi (and his contest) is nearly as well known as in Bombay. f Jhe Ameer is certainly loyal to us, but the Afghans are as certainly in the mass very suspicious of us."