ABSTRACT
When in 1880, following the Second Anglo-Afghan War and death of Amir Sher Ali (see Chapter 2), Abdur Rahman Khan succeeded in winning the Afghan throne over his two cousins, Sardiir Yaqub and Sardar Ishaq, the task before him was (in his own words):
... to put in order all those hundreds of petty chiefs, plunderers, roblJers, and cut-throats ... This necessitated breaKing down the feudal and tribal system and substituting one grand community under one law and one ruler. (Quoted from Wilber 1962:19)
The unification and centralization of Afghanistan, which Amir Abdur Rahman had set as his goal, was carried out through administrative and economic measures supported by a considerable strengthening of the executive power, i.e. army and police forces, 1 and a policy which ranged from 'divide and rule' to the application of brute force. The authority ofthe Afghan t
~~:P:~~:~:~::i~~~~~:~:~~:~ ~ ~ .•.••... stan and Hazarajat) and taxation and rigid administration were imposed upon the rest of the country.
