Paper short abstract:

This paper examines Anglo-Afghan connections between 1881 and 1900, made possible by the improvement of communication and travel infrastructures. It argues that British colonial knowledge about Afghan tribes and ethnicity was able to travel into Afghanistan and indirectly influence state-building.

Paper long abstract:

After the second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-1881) British India did not hold back any military or political representative in Afghanistan. Despite this apparent closure in Anglo-Afghan relations, the two countries entertained close linkages until the end of the century. 'Official channels' were the dense correspondence between the court in Kabul and the government of India, the political missions sent into Afghanistan - particularly in occasion of the 1885 and 1893 boundary commissions - and the visit of the Amir to India. 'Unofficial channels' were cross-regional trade routes and Afghan intellectuals travelling between British India and Afghanistan, as well as the groups of Europeans privately employed by the Amir in the capital.

The decisive improvements in the communication and transport infrastructure that connected British India with Afghanistan made these increased exchanges possible. The construction of new railway lines, roads and the establishment of telegraphic communication on the NWF decidedly shortened cross-regional distances that had hindered steady communication in previous decades.

This paper shows that the ideas and people travelling through these networks were crucial for the process of internal institution-building in Afghanistan. It argues that colonial knowledge influenced state-building during the reign of the Amir Abdur Rahman Khan (1881-1900), the British-appointed ruler. Notably concepts of Afghan tribes and ethnicity, which had developed in colonial writing since the 1850s, were able to travel into Afghanistan, where they were incorporated by the political elites and actively employed in state policies, thus setting the basis for long-term differential treatment of groups and social hierarchies.