Foreign Policy of Colonial India by Sneh Mahajan

Author:Sneh Mahajan [Mahajan, Sneh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781351186933
Google: IVVSDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-03-20T03:36:45+00:00

The Third Anglo-Afghan War, 1919

The collapse of the Tsarist state was bound to have repercussions on the attitude of the Afghan Government. It removed the sole inducement for the Afghans to remain in British orbit. In February 1919, Habibullah Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, was assassinated, and it was generally held that one of the reasons for his assassination was his failure to take advantage of the situation that arose during the First World War. The Afghan leaders wanted their government to take advantage of the preoccupations and difficulties of the European powers and strengthen the position of Afghanistan. After a short and bitter struggle for succession, his twenty-eight-year-old third son, Amanullah Khan, emerged successful and declared himself the Amir. He was forceful and energetic and demonstrated a new spirit of assertiveness at Kabul. On 3 March, he sent a communication to the Viceroy asking for recognition of his succession by the Government of India which contained hints of a claim to independence in the conduct of foreign affairs. He also offered to sign a commercial treaty with the British. Chelmsford, the Governor-General, did not send any reply for over a month. On 7 April the Amir wrote to the government in Russia asking for the establishment of diplomatic relations.45 Two days later Chelmsford sent the long overdue reply to Amanullah Khan in which he did not give any definite answer to the request for recognizing his accession to the throne. In the meanwhile the Amir got reports about political turmoil in India following the passing of the Rowlatt Bill and the ‘massacre’ of people at Amritsar on 13 April 1919.

On 3 May 1919, some Afghan troops crossed the border into British Indian territory and raided a small village called Bagh as well as the water springs near village Tangi. A few labourers were killed and with this started what has become known as the Third Afghan War. At this stage, the Amir sent a letter to the Viceroy in which he criticised him for the inept handling of the internal security situation in India and added that he was moving troops towards India to prevent ‘the virus of discontent’ spreading to his own country. Militarily also, for the British Government, the scene was demoralising. After the long and tiring World War, the soldiers were being demobilised in Britain as well as India, and those who were not demobilised were looking forward to returning home. On 19 April, when Sir Henry Wilson, the British Chief of Staff, came to know about the trouble with Afghanistan and the desirability of keeping four divisions and four cavalry brigades ready for reinforcements, he wrote: ‘I really have not enough troops to cope with our possible difficulties’.46

The Afghan Government had hoped that an invasion of the north-west frontier region would lead to intensification of the anti-British struggle in India. With this in view, it hatched a plan for an uprising in Peshawar on 8 May with help from local people. But the British got to know about it in advance.

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