Show 0 9 41 j 1 A W 0 0 0 0 J ii 0 4 VU R t t t pa A 4 k 5 k amir amanullah khan prepared by tho national geographic society washington D C aagha afghanistan 11 lone almost a synon synonym yin for fann lical isolation from the IVA of the hie ii world orld Is at last fast apparently showing rig a desire to enter the family it t nations the die moslem king kingdom doin which oven even now tont linies its ils old pulley policy of exclusiveness pending the ille outcome of its negotiations recently sent a delegation of nobles to washington to petition the united states tor for the es of diplomatic le ie lations between tile the to countries Afghani stans exclusiveness is not acid accidental entill situated bie tween the soul hem growing empire of loussia mid and northern spi fading baltish india it has ha lieen been lie typical buffer state its natural exclusiveness due to religious lias his lieen been accentuated by the lie political rivalries of its great nel neighbors li hors forbidden lhasa itself Is no wore more exclusive than brooding suspicious kabul the capital of tills this isolate unfriendly realm of fanatic tribes of rucks de deserts irrigated valleys and toi towering erin ranges not a single railway or telegraph line lias has been permitted to cross tills hermit country or to run into it lest elie pel idelous anaas of the world leal leak in arid and the six or seven million people lime bren been hardly on speaking tonus terms with fill fifty other nation few foreigners permitted to enter night and duy day aiom stone watch towers and hidden nooks along the an ilent bent caraan trails that lead in arout india from perla and hussla tra trails its used lon long ngo ago by alexander and jen salz bilz kill quads quada of bearded tur zatier bankd afghans with imported field glasses and long rilles hae baie kept watch against trespassers from without only a few deiv europeans mostly ferll ish asli but occasionally also an all american and now and theia a few Rus russians or germans have been permitted to enter this country and to sojourn for a while in its curious capital but e ee nen on such s rare occasions as when a foreign engineer or a doctor whose services are badly needed Is admitted by the grace of the andr amir the visitor Is subject to a surveillance that amounts amount almost to imprisonment isolation is a sott of afghan tradition a conviction that the th coming of the foreigner will mean tie the end of tile the amir and of tits unique absolute rule As it is no other monarch luon arch now wields such undisputed authority or Is in closer touch with the everyday every day flay life of tits ills subjects ile he personally runs ills his count rys religion and its foreign a affairs and ile he even supervises much of its commerce lie he also alo owns and censors censor the lie tonly only newspaper printed in all incidentally lie he k keeps beeps 58 automobiles and lie he never wa walks ever even front from tile one feraby neriel y palace to another lie goes by motor over short pieces eq of rond built especially tot for lin plea pien ire gure though the amir tool took tio no accle part in the lie world afir ar lie fie emerged from it will singular ir profits pro it ilis li old and owe one rival neighbors areat britann ISri tain an I 1 russia drawn as allies in the conflict left hirn him a free hind lit in 1910 1911 great officially onic lally recognized the alii political independence of this much buffeted huf huff feted etel buffer state to whose eulers she had so long paid n flit annuity keeps in touch with the world afghanistan with an all area of miles Is next nest to tibet tile the largest country in the world that is practically closed to the citizens of obber kotlier nations but blut political life at wary alert mohammedan kabul is in sharp contrast to in the meditative seclusion find and cl classic as ale aloofness of the mini bull chist lamas tit at lhasa through agent agents in india find and ek elsewhere ebere amir amanul inh ln khan Is if in close nouh with the worlds oris current events and as the lat int in t remaining independent ruler of at a moslem country now jiow that tile power of f tile the turkish caliph at constanti constant nople ls Is broken lie wields Ie lils it 11 far reach lit ing influence throughout tile mohammedan world and ami it Is pio probably bably that because lie cause ills his land happens to lie ile just ns as it does on the nap of nf the world lie he nill be for a long ion time to crime come an active force in tile political destinies of middle asia the agirs word his bublin Is law to ills millions of subjects ue ile Is in truth the last of the despots a soft of modern orl oriental inUi pati larch oil 0 a grand scale ills judgments are of 0 course based primarily on the alie koran or on the common law jaw of the land there Is no ito statute book no penal coile find and no cobit the amir ic ie serves to himself the right of passing death sentences sentenced tile the duel catiel afghan fortus forms of punishment such ns as shooting a prisoner aloni aiom the cannons muzzle off ills his head shuning him to death burying him ache cutting olt off tits his hands and feet or putting out his ees ebes tire are selder employed nowadays yet often the criminal himself will choose a quiet quick though violent exodus to paradise rather than suffer long imprisonment in a filthy iron cage per perhaps blips to ile die eventually of starvation the way of the transgressor in ili afghanistan ghani 1 l stan continues to be uncommonly hard boweN hower kr time and again in the recorded history lil story of this land deposed ani tirs troublesome relatives and political ene enemies lilles have been deliberately a blinded there being a t tradition radi tion here 1 ere that no man mail with uny liny physical affliction may hold a public office of honor av or profit its mountains and tribes politically afghanistan Is divided into four provinces inces afghan stan kabul kandahari Kan dahar and herat leaf ly its most conspicuous features are the high peaks in the northeast here it touches the great hindu kush the birach mir attains a height eight of oner oer feet through these mountains of northeast afghanistan wind fail some of tile the most que nue anti and historic trails of the whole world for centuries the trade be between teen Turk turkestan estan anti and india has flowed over these high passes arid and the story stor goes goei that often these annual cain caravans cai avans vans number as many as loaded animals including camels miller and horses afghanistan is ia a babel of races and 1011 tongues more than half its population tire are not afghans at nil all the majority group en breres races the arcari iks who ito li inhabit habit tile s settlement ett lement 4 i anti and large towns the mongolian mong ollan hanza ralis who ailio roani the mountainous central regions deelo is of tile country and the T 1 rk 1 1 n 1 and of northern k r egl 1 at tan an the real aag afghans lians or palitos Ia lilos 1 Il I italians nthan it lians ns as they call themselves ille hie IT in ali tile high rallies stretch ing from tile pant ghazal find and kandahari Kan dahar t to 1 ihrl vest toward herat the hilas tire lire divi divided deI into minor clans called mid adiel and nil they live almost eni enill liely cly itla IT their herds of if catte catle camels camel and steep peran ic arsian culture lias has molded the so eaid life ito in arg Ill rough cen cell the file lintrop luit rd helue ett tho and tha I 1 shins hn 4 k liae haile been more 01 or lo 10 les i in the ilie upper rank 0 nil middle moslem society from the alie perlant Id shins the afghans afghan got tile the idea of marr marrying marri Ning liiK more inore than tile wife hut but lile tile Pw lawi too ion they have round found to their dimit dismay ly that hat polygamy Is now nilis a neof cu custom amir kluin klinn 10 lo ito MIK n n grated atad in 1919 imol a bajew rf of volden coinon vol nen and anione aliese e artran ap ly enough ere a few fc 1 tic present amir aliv lir bw but ww one wife ife |