Kingdom of Afghanistan
Government:Constitutional monarchy King:Mohammed Zahir Shah
Area:250,000 square miles Population:7,000,000
Largest cities: Kabul (80,000), Kandahar (60,000), Herat (50,000)
Military personnel:60,000-100,000 men; compulsory active service for two years; reserve force from
age 18 to 40; voluntary enlistment for life Army: Nine "mixed" divisions,
one Royal Household Division, one artillery division, one independent "mixed" infantry
regiment, one independent cavalry brigade Air Force:100 men, unknown amount of aircraft
Afghanistan meaning land of the Afghans has been a strategically important location throughout
history. Sitting on many trade and migration routes, Afghanistan may also be known as the
'Central Asian roundabout' since routes converge from the Middle East, from the Indus Valley,
from the Far East, and from the Eurasian Steppe. It was the home to many empires throughout history
such as the Mughals, Durrani, Kushians, and Timurids just to name a few. After the fall
of the Durrani Empire in 1823, Afghanistan was a major point of contention between the
Russian Empire in the north, and the British Empire in the south who sought to expand their
control over Central Asia. This is otherwise known as the great game. Long story short,
Afghanistan remained mostly independent from it's creation to present day.
The modern state of Afghanistan owes its existence to the rivalry between the British and Russian
Empires. Britain was anxious to keep Russian influence away from India s North-West Frontier,
and in an effort to do so it invaded Afghanistan in 1839 and 1878. In 1880,
British troops withdrew for a second time leaving Abdur Rahman Khan in charge in Kabul. The British
were to conduct his foreign relations, and in return, he was to receive an annual subsidy of
1.2 million rupees. After this agreement, Rahman cautiously and slowly started to modernize his
nation, as he feared that a fast program would alarm the British and he knew that his nation
couldn't fend off vassalage. He re-organized the army and adopted some western style of command,
he also created a western style school and a military college in Kabul. His internal
development was limited to some road projects and establishment of workshops around the nation with
a reduction of customs duties to stimulation international trade. Even with expanded trade,
their was a pretty heavy wariness of foreign businesses and thus investments and loans were
forbidden besides national sources. He died in 1901 and was succeeded by his eldest son,
Habibullah Khan. After some initial difficulties, Britain restarted the subsidy and resumed
control of Afghanistan s foreign relations and Habibullah continued his modernization program.
When WW1 broke out the Afghan ruling class reacted in different ways. Anti-British
views led some to argue that Afghanistan should support the Central Powers including the Amri's
third son and a significant conservative faction led by his brother Nasrullah. The
Amir himself was well-informed about the international situation and he thought
that joining the Central Powers would leave Afghanistan open to a joint Anglo-Russian
attack. To try to persuade the Amir to change his stance the German government
sent a diplomatic mission to Kabul in 1915, promising aid if he was to join their side.
It was in the country s best interests, he decided, to remain neutral. He may also have hoped
that if the British won the war they would be grateful for his support and allow Afghanistan
to become fully independent but outside factors complicated his neutrality, with his brother
leading tribesmen along the Indian border to attack British positions. This did result in
some small scale-fighting, but any Indian/British invasion of Afghanistan never happened. The Amir
was able to keep his nation out of the war but he had spent all of his political capital
and he had nothing to show for his unpopular policy. He had survived several attempts on his
life through-out the years, but on the 20th of February 1919 an assassin finally succeeded in
shooting and killing him while he was sleeping in his tent during a hunting trip in Laghman. By now
the wartime alliance between the modernizers and the conservatives in the Afghan elite had
broken down; Nasrullah made a bid for the throne, but was outmaneuvered by Amanullah, the Amir's
third son. He quickly claimed to be a man of democratic ideals that would make Afghanistan a
fully independent nation and bring about major reforms to the government and population. To
further cement his rule, he arrested Nasullah and declared war against the British which led
to the Third Anglo-Afghan war, with Afghanistan getting full independence following the treaty.
Afghanistan went through three kings during the interwar periods. One being pro Soviet,
and the other two Pro British. Zahir Shah came into power in 1933 and was primarily pro-British
like his father but under the influence of his uncle that was acting as regent. Zahir continued
on the modernization programs that were started by previous rulers, and opened
up diplomatic relations with many European nations. In the late 30's The finance minister
Mohammad Hashim Khan invited German industry to build factories and hydroelectric plants
within Afghanistan. Hashim was interested in establishing friendly relations with the Germans.
With an uprising in Chinese Xinjiang along their border, Zahir's government sent troops across the
border in late 1933 to aid the uprising, hoping to establish a friendly buffer state in the region.
This largely failed, and showed Kabuls government that their nation wasn't in a position to project
power against any of the nations neighboring it. This led some to try and establish friendly
relations with the Japanese and the Soviets as an alliance against the British in India.
As WW2 broke out, King Zahir Shah's government proclaimed its official and legal neutrality
in the conflict. By May 1940 the British Staff in India proposed a plan for defense against a
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, although in such a contingency the forces were to shield
India rather than prop up its neighbor. The plan called for an armored division,
five infantry divisions, and an independent infantry brigade,
of which the only troops actually available for employment amounted to four infantry brigades.
Less ambitious plans were adopted, but were of no use as the war played out.
With the advent of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Afghanistan found itself rocked
by a more serious international shockwave. The Soviet Union the great opponent of the British
Empire in central Asia and ally of Afghanistan's German friends suddenly became an enemy of the
Germans and a friend of the British. There was no longer any hope of playing the British
against the Soviets. Soon afterward came the joint Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran,
an event which thoroughly alarmed the government, and at which point Afghanistan was surrounded by
Allied-controlled territory. It became all too apparent to Kabuls government that it could
suffer the same fate as its western neighbor and the government had no choice but to accede to the
joint Anglo-Soviet demand in October 1941 for the expulsion of all Germans and Italians. Although
due to Afghanistan's officially neutral status small diplomatic staffs were permitted to remain,
by the end of the month 206 Axis nationals had departed for neutral Turkey. Some additional
Italian and German diplomatic personnel were expelled in September 1943.
Afghanistan retained its neutrality but, surrounded by the possessions and occupied
territories of the increasingly powerful Allied states, it became a neutrality which was as much
enforced as chosen. Kabul never declared war on Germany and never broke diplomatic relations with
Berlin unlike a good many other powers did near the end of the war. Had the Wehrmacht defeated
the Soviet Union, however, and had panzers appeared on its northern border, Afghanistan would
not have hesitated to declare war against the Allies to gain all it could from British India.