NORTH AFGHANISTAN COLONIZATION AND ENGLISH BOUNDARY COMMISSION

Abstract

The present study examines the question of Abd al-Rahman Khan’s colonization of the northern regions of Afghanistan in the 1880s. The colonization process was aimed at resettling people from areas with scarce land and water resources to the northern regions, which provided largely favourable conditions for agriculture and transhumance, restoring economic life through increase in production capacity with additional workforce and ensuring the security of the northern border. At first, these measures were directed at the inhabitants of the region itself, but they came to reach the national level after a while. The appearance of the Afghan Delimitation Commission in these areas during this period had a certain impact on the decisions of the Afghan authorities. Members of the Commission began to discredit the indigenous people of the region in the eyes of the leadership of their own state and before the emir as unreliable subjects and suggested relying exclusively on the Pashtuns. While the emir wanted primarily his fellow tribesmen to settle in the areas, the British pushed for the settlement of representatives of the warlike Ghilzai tribe there. Tens of thousands of households eventually settled in the northern territory but given that large segments of the local population migrated outside the country, the total number of the population did not undergo any significant change. Nevertheless, the number of the Pashtun households has noticeably increased in the regions. The discontent over the resettlement policy expressed by the indigenous population and the position of the authorities on this issue further exacerbated the already tense inter-ethnic relations. The economic aspects of the issue faded into the background while the emir's attention focused solely on the political elements within the region. By exterminating local influential people and their chiefs and by confiscating their land ownership rights, Abd al-Rahman Khan finally managed to suppress the resistance and opposition forces of Tajiks, Uzbeks and other ethnic groups and tribes. Looking through the prism of its rivalry with Russia, England regarded these unfolding events and processes as an outcome of the weakening of the position and influence of its longtime opponent in this Afghan region.