Amanullah Khan; The Portentous Modernist King

Over the past hundred years, Afghanistan has had a turbulent history among the countries of the region in the war against foreign occupation, state-building, and socialization. Although the country declared its independence earlier than other neighboring governments in 1919 and gained domestic and international sovereignty, it was not long before Shah Amanullah Khan’s nine-year reign ended with his modernist aspirations. Now, after a hundred years, political and economic self-reliance and the modernization of social and governmental structures are among the most important issues and discourses in this country, since foreign forces are present in the fight against terrorism and support the process of state-building and democracy in Afghanistan. On the other hand, traditional and religious insurgents consider the values ​​of the last 18 years in the field of human rights and democracy to be blasphemous and incompatible with it, and in the ongoing peace negotiations, the modern values ​​of the last two decades are under serious threat. Therefore, the historical-scientific view of the periods and stages of Shah Amanullah’s government is of special importance for current politicians, researchers, and leaders.

The First Stage; Emergence in the Role of Pan-Islamist

Amanullah was the ruler of Kabul at the time of his father’s assassination. Immediately after his father was killed in Laghman, he proclaimed a kingdom with independence. Although Afghanistan was not occupied by British forces at the time, its foreign relations were governed by Great Britain.

Shah Amanullah prepared an army of 10,000 men to attack the areas beyond the Durand Line with the help of southern tribes. In the first steps, the state and tribal armies succeeded in capturing several “British India” bases in the “Khyber Valley”. The British army reacted by bombing Jalalabad and Bala Hesar in Kabul, where according to historians, Shah Amanullah Khan again called for an end to the war, saying he had no intention of offending them.

The British were facing two serious problems at the time. On the one hand, World War I had exhausted them severely, and on the other, liberation movements in South Asia were seeking the independence of their territories. The British were deeply concerned about the annexation of the British Indian and Indian protesters in a nationwide uprising in the region. Therefore, giving Afghanistan independence was not so important to them. In exchange for Kabul’s autonomy, they sought to get Shah Amanullah to pledge to accept the treaties of his father and grandfather in connection with the Durand Line and not to interfere in the tribal areas beyond Durand.

Meanwhile, Vartan Gregorian, author of the book The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, points to an interesting topic. In response to Amanullah’s letter, he also wrote that the Shah should raise the Pan-Islamic flag, “Because most of the Islamic lands are under the control of Western imperialism, he will become popular among Muslims in the Islamic flag and will infiltrate among Indian Muslims.”

At the same time, the leadership of the socialist Russian government promised that it would not violate the autonomy of Bukhara and Khiva.

The first phase of Amanullah’s rule was spent from 1919 to 1923 with a focus on Islamic and religious literature. The title “Ghazi” has been inherited from him from the same approach.

The Second Stage, Reform, and Nationalism

Before he acceded to the throne, Shah Amanullah was mostly associated with modernist youth. Between 1923 and 1927, he took ambitious action in the field of modern state-building with the adoption of the first constitution, established diplomatic relations with several countries, increased the number of print media, made military training compulsory, and established educational institutions. He became adorned with new knowledge, which is why French, German, and Turkish language teachers were involved in education in Kabul at the time.

It should be added that although steps had been taken in the development of socialization and state-building in Afghanistan, traditional punishments such as flogging, retribution, and execution were already common.

During this period, as a nationalist, he nurtured the desire for revolution in his country, while the Khost and Paktia insurgents revolted against him and his constitution, which lasted for two years. According to Vartan Gregorian, the crackdown on insurgents cost five million pounds, although the Amani government’s annual revenue did not exceed two and a half million pounds by imposing heavy taxes on citizens. Amanullah Khan, on the other hand, suppressed local insurgents with Russian-German warplanes, which harmed the religious masses.

It must be acknowledged that during this period, Amanullah Khan emerged as a nationalist reformist who, through internal pressures and riots, abandoned some changes, such as the mandatory training of women.

The Third Stage; Secularist and Parliamentarian

After extinguishing the insurgents in the south between December 1927 and July 1928, Amanullah made an official trip through India to Europe and several Middle Eastern countries with several government officials. He tried to observe the experience of European countries in modernization.

He received an unprecedented welcome in Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary doctorate, and the dean referred to him as the “Sun of the East.”

At the Vatican, the Catholic leader of the world warmly welcomed him. On his way back from Europe he went to the Soviet Union, but the culmination of his journey was on his way home, where he met Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in secular Turkey and Reza Shah in Iran.

The Shah realized that despite the opposition of the traditionalists in the two Islamic and neighboring countries, they had been able to strengthen the foundations of modernization. Nevertheless, revolutionary sentiments overwhelmed him. When he arrived in Kabul, he said in a statement to the people of Kabul: “My people! I have to say that the biggest secret of our country’s development is to get rid of old and worn-out ideas and traditions.”

It is clear from his remarks that he was deeply moved by the emotions in the modernization of Afghanistan, and declared war on the traditionalists in some way. In the words of Roland Wilde, a Daily Mail reporter who accompanied Amanullah on his European tour, “he was so seriously infected with the germs of the West that he even lost his balance.”

In addition, during his long journeys in Europe, he was inspired by Western parliamentary and constitutionalist movements, so he again decided to amend the 1923 constitution, abolishing the council of Khans and feudal lords, who were mostly from the Durrani tribe and other tribes. Instead, he envisioned the elected parliament in law, while at the same time reducing his powers and trying to establish a constitutional monarchy by creating the post of prime minister and cabinet in the system.

It should be said that the second Amani reforms in the field of modernization were implemented under the influence of Western secularism and de-traditionalization and de-religionization in a hurry.

The Shah issued three revolutionary decrees: the decree to remove the hijab of women, the mandatory western covering for men in Kabul, and the prohibition of polygamy. These orders faced sharp reactions from clerics and traditionalists. Meanwhile, feudal lords, merchants, and citizens who were tired of taxes and increased customs duties supported the anti-secular monarchy protests, and this general uprising overthrew Amanullah.

The Result and the End of the Work

In connection with the end of Amanullah’s 9-year regime, three key questions arise. Some European writers believed that Afghanistan’s traditional and indigenous society did not uphold modern values ​​and secularism, but some Russian and Afghan writers based their views on the fall of King Amanullah’s modernist monarchy on charges of British retaliation against Kabul. It should be noted that this perception is more influenced by anti-British motives.

The third view, fused with the realistic aspect, examines the fall of the Amani monarchy with the economic reality, the shaky rule of the state, and the haste of the young king of Afghanistan, since he hastily imitated Western modernization in a poor Islamic country that was deprived of the connections of the New World, and had no strong economic infrastructure. In the words of Samuel Huntington, “The priority for governments that follow the theory of development from the top down is, first of all, the existence of a strong and stable government to prepare the ground for indigenous culture for modernization through social repressive tools.” It is worth mentioning that in addition to political instability, Amanullah’s government also faced serious funding problems. Statistics show that the Afghan government’s revenue at that time was two and a half million pounds, while its development and modernization program required a budget of at least ten million pounds.