TRIBES TURNS TO TRADE

Evening Post, Issue 56, 7 March 1934, Page 14

TRIBES TURNS TO TRADE

COUNTRY NOW PEACEFUL Recently the "Daily Mail" was able to print the first direct information received from Kabul since the assassination there on November S of Nadir Shah, King of Afghanistan. The cable, which graphically described the present condition of the country, came froin^Mr. Bosworth Goldman, an adventurous young Englishman who with several companions left England in the early autumn on what was more or less a holiday tour of the Middle East. After a thrilling trek from Beirut across Syria, ■ Irak, Persia, and.the greater part of Afghanistan, he recently reached Kabul, the capital. Mr. Goldman, who is 24 years old, was formerly in the Navy. Last year he undertook a remarkable journey from Igarsk along the Yenisei River and Turk-Sib railway to Russian Central Asia. - ... ... \., I find Afghanistan contented and outwardly peaceful, he writes. The only dead man I have seen had been knocked down by a passing lorry. Yet the world at large expected civil war following Nadir Shah's assassination. That anticipation was incorrect [because of the able manner in which I Nadir had secured the widespread approval of his people. My journey began in the north-west corner near Herat. Avoiding the mighty mountains plumed with eternal snow, I turned south towards the orchards of Kandahar^ Rushing streams tumbled through the bare hills, forming broad and placid rivers which irrigate the wide valleys and the fringes of arid deserts. The road skirted the mountain fastnesses of the Afghan tribes. TRIBES' WANING POWER. Two factors have made for a diminished tribal influence in Afghan affairs—the inability of the tribesmen to unite in the past, and the pacifying effect of advancing trade now. Formerly they preyed upon the Jess warlike and, in. times of peace, most prosperous peasants in the lower valleys and plains. Now the peasants form the outposts of trade. „ I readied Kabul at length, the metropolis of the well-eduCated and politically minded Afghans. The present Cabinet is identical with that of the late King. It is dominated by his brothers, who, profiting from the mistake of ex-King Amanullah, have built up an efficient army which is regularly paid and is consequently strong in its loyal support of the new King, Mohammed Zahir, the young son of Nadir Shah. STATE TRADING. The degree of control exercised by the Government may be assessed by the peaceful succession of Nadir's son I a peaceful succession almost unprecedented in Afghan history. There is, however, a small but virulent group— devoted rather to the- ideas Amanullah represented rather than to the man himself —who wish for sweeping and immediate western reforms throughout the country. So as not to give a handle to this group, the Government is rightly cautious not to associate too intimately with any one foreign Power. This caution is evident from the position of external trade. To eliminate ttfe burden of " the middlemen, to the. consumer . or, alternatively, so that the middleman's profit may, accrue to the revenue, tlit

Afghan State Trading Company was founded to deal direct with foreign manufacturers on a monopoly basis. Yet so vital a commodity as petrol is obtained from Soviet Russia and India, despite the possible difference in price. The King's policy abroad, the Premier, Sirdar Hashim Khan, added during a talk on the subject of the novel charcoal-driven lorry in which I arrived, would follow that of his father. Adding point to this statement, the trading company has appointed agents as follows:—lndia, fourj England, one; Germany, one. Judging from the example of other countries, Nadir Shah realised that trade was the tool of Soviet propaganda. For this reason Afghanistan watches closely the rivalries of fellow Mahommedan insurgents in Sin-kiang (Chinese Turkestan), and the confusion which might result in the ultimate establishment of a rule inimical to Afghan integrity. The peaceful succession is also an augury for the future. The Government, by the moderation with which the Civil Service and financial reforms have been carried out, has justly earned the approval of th,e settled population. Its external attitude is unlikely to alter unless there are dissensions within the Government, but Nadir Shah's assassination has closed its ranks.,Outsiders are unlikely to dash for the King's ear, since Governments have changed without as well as within Afghanistan since the nineteenth century. Nor, indeed, would the old manoeuvres be so successful, for the Afghan is beginning to learn of commercial relations instead of predatory strife within his own country. Afghanistan is crossing that line which divides the loosely-knit group of feudatory tribes from a homogeneous nation.