Indo-Afghan relations

This book is a revised vesrsion of my thesis accepted by the University of Delhi for the award of the Ph.D. degree in 1963.

Although much has already been written on the Indo-Afghan relations in the second half of the 19th century, yet there is scope for bringing to light new facts or details left out by previous writers, and giving a new interpretation to well known facts.

This period is of special importance because it witnessed the dem arcation of Afghanistan's north-western and north-eastern bound aries, the conclusion of the Durand Agreement in 1893, Kabul Agreement in 1905, and the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907.

In selecting a period, beginning from 1882 and ending with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, my purpose has essentially been to analyse the policy of the Government of India towards Afghanistan, which was largely influenced by the complicated contemporary international situation. I have tried to show that although there was a fundamental unity in the British policy to wards Afghanistan yet the Indo-Afghan relations were not always cordial because of a number of factors and broadly speaking the relations between the two countries could never be properly deter mined. I have added two chapters (chapters III and VI) on Inter national relations, in order to show that Anglo-Russian antagon ism in Central Asia was not an isolated event, but was a part of the rivalry existing between Great Britain and Russia all over the world. The British were naturally touchy regarding their interests in India and it was quite marked during this period, and any movement on the part of Russia towards Afghanistan affected their frontier policy and the Indo-Afghan relations. The Anglo Russian relations have been discussed in some detail because of its important bearing on the Indo-Afghan relations.

My study has primarily been based on the confidential records of the Government of India, Private Papers of Dufferin, Lansdowne, Fowler, Hamilton, Curzon, Ampthill, and Parliamentary Papers.