AFFIRMATION

solemn declaration by those (e.g., Quakers) who, on a point a AEM refuse to take an oath g.0.)« narrow strip of Wakhan extends to 75° _E.). Length from Herat frontier to aibar Pa , c. 600 m.; greatest breadth from N.E. to S.W., c. 700 m.; bounded on W. by Persia, N. by Ru ian terr. and Bokhara, E. by tribes under Brit. influence and India, 8S. by Balu chi stan. Main features are sand, rocks, hills, snow-topped mountains; surface rugged, much of it covered by offshoots from Hindu Kush, Koh-i-Baba, Safed pleateaus between vary from 4,000 to 7,000 ft.; temp. depends on elevation; climate in higher districts very hot in summer, very severe in winter; rainfall, slight. North drained by Oxus and 8S. and S.W. by Helm and and Argandab; S.E. by Kabul and Gumal. Fauna ingaieles. Valleys fertile; irrigation used; two harvests every year, yielding cereals,. vegetables, and abundant fruit; castor oil plant, madder, and asafcetida abound. Mineral resources await development. Fat-tailed sheep is most important animal; horses, camels, and goats reared. Chief industries are manufactures of silk, felt, carpets, woolen cloth, sheepskin coats, camel and goat hair fabrics. Exports: silk, carpets, madder, gums, fruit and vegetables, grain, drugs, cattle, hides, tobacco. Imports: cotton dyes, sugar, hardware, leather. transit trade from Persia, Bokhara, Turkestan, India, to Herat and Kabul; transport is by horses and camels; no good roads except Brit. military roads; no railways; no navigable rivers, but timber floated down stream; telephone between Jalalabad and Kabul. Chief Aimaks, Uzbaks; languages, Persian and — Pushtu, the former being the court language; religion, Islam; education still in elementary state. Government is in hands of hereditary absolute monarch, called the amir, whos? council consists of sirdars, khans, and taulahs. Country is politically divided into four provs.: har (Badakshan being now joined with Turkestan), each under governor. Army — said to be 98,000. Area, e. 230,000 sq. — ™m.; pop. c. 6,380,500, of whom -. 2,200,- 000 are Afghans (Duranis and Ghilzais). — See Persia.; istan was occupied by Sarangi ans, — Arians, and other peoples. In 4th cent. Kabul valley invaded by Alexander the — Great; in 3rd cent. Gr. dynasty founded — at Bactria, power probably extending’ throughout Afghanistan; country under R was founded by Aland-din. Afghanistan was for short time subject to Khwarizm; conquered by Jenghiz Khan, middle of 12th cent.; remained under Mongol control for over cent.; conquered towards end of 14th cent. by Timur, Oriental conqueror, remaining in hands of his descendant till 1501; another descendant, Baber, took Kandahar (1522); from 1526 Kabul and Kandahar formed part of Mogul empire of Delhi founded by Baber. In 1738 Nadir Shah conquered Afghanistan; after his murder (1747), Ahmad Khan became king; founded Durani dynasty. In first half of 19th cent. Dost Mahommad of Kabul tried to obtain Brit. aid against Persia; but British, suspecting him of treachery, waged war against him, dethroned him, This led to conspiracy; ma acre of British occurred (1841); British had to make treaty with Afghans and evacuate country. Second Afghan War broke out (1878), in consequence of Amir Shere Ali’s refusal to receive Brit. mi ion; British invaded Afghanistan, November; amir soon fled; treaty made with son, Yakub Khan, whereby Britain attained control of Afghan foreign policy and stipulated for residence of envoy at Kabul. Soon afterwards Brit. resident Cavagnari, and others were ma acred; troops again sent; Kabul, Kandahar, and Ghazni taken, Yakub Khan imprisoned. British recognized AbdurRahman as amir (1880); almost immediKhan, raised army, defeating British at Matiwand; routed by Roberts, and subsequently by Abdur-Rahman (1881). Following years_were marked by differences between Ru ia and Britain concerning Afghan northern boundary; settled by diplomacy (1885). AbdurRahman remained loyal to Britain; succeeded by Habibullah (1901). During Great War, amir maintained strict neutrality, though urged by his brother Nasrullaan Khan, to fight for Turkey, and by the German chancellor to declare a jehad. On Feb. 20, 1919, Habibullah was murdered, and his third son, Am a nullah, succeeded; declared war with government of India, May 2; peace signed, Aug. 8, 1919. The people are warlike and, being nearly all Mohammedans, observe the Jaws and customs of Islam. The country is without railroads, but plans were ripening in 1923 for the building of a line acro the country connecting Bokhara with Peshawur in British India via Kabul, and another to link up with it from Merv at its railhead at Kuska via Herat on the west and Kandahar in the south to New Chaman and Quetta merchandise continued to be transported as of yore by camel and pony. Itg amir is Amanuliah Khan, who succeeded his a a inated father, Habibullah Khan in 1919. Up to 1921 the Amir was subsidized by the British government. 4A treaty made in that year ended further payments. In it Great Britain recognized the complete independence of Afghanistan, established the frontiers, and withdrew the privilege she had See Map CENTRAL AND S. Asta. 57,000 sq. miles; chief town, Mazar-ioat dependency of Kabul. Pop. «