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Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919

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The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919,[1][2] also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi, was a treaty which brought the Third Anglo-Afghan War to an end.[3]

Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919
Afghanistan in 1919
TypeBilateral Treaty
Signed8 August 1919 (1919-08-08)
LocationRawalpindi, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Original
signatories

Background

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The war had begun on 3rd May 1919 when the new Amir of the Emirate of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan invaded British India. Despite some initial success, the Afghan invasion was however repelled by the British. The Afghans were then driven back across the border and further Afghan incursions and tribal uprisings attacks were contained. The Royal Air Force were also used in bombing and strafing attacks on the frontier tribes as well as targets within Afghanistan, including Kabul and Jalalabad. With British and Indian troops potentially invading Afghanistan Amanullah requested for an armistice, which was sent to the British Indian government on 31 May. The armistice went into effect on 3 June and the fighting ended.[4]

Peace conference and treaty

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The peace conference assembled at Rawalpindi on 27 July amid much acrimony between the two parties. The British delegation led by Sir Hamilton Grant conceded recognition that Afghan foreign policy was a matter for the Afghans, but that they must reaffirm the Durrand line as being the political boundary.

The Afghans were not conciliatory, they demanded the restoration of the Amir's subsidy, the payment of a war indemnity and recognition of Afghanistan's sovereignty over the whole of the Tribal Territory.[5] As a result, the talks foundered several times and Grant sent a final ultimatum on 1 August, or hostilities would resume.[6]

The Afghans reluctantly agreed; the treaty was signed on 8 August 1919 in Rawalpindi, Punjab, by the United Kingdom and the Emirate of Afghanistan. Britain recognised Afghanistan's independence (as per Article 5 of the treaty), agreed that British India would not extend past the Khyber Pass and stopped British subsidies to Afghanistan. Afghanistan also accepted all previously agreed border arrangements with British India as per Article 5.[3][7][8][9][10] Thus, Afghanistan as an independent country agreed to recognise the Durand Line as international border between the two countries.[7][8][10][11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Adamec, Ludwig W. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Scarecrow Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8108-7957-7. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  2. ^ Khalfin, N. A. "Anglo-Afghan Treaties and Agreements of the 19th and 20th Centuries". Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Third Afghan War (1919)". National Army Museum. Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  4. ^ Richards, Donald Sydney (1990). The Savage Frontier A History of the Anglo-Afghan Wars. Macmillan. p. 167. ISBN 9780333525579.
  5. ^ Lee, Jonathan (2019). Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present. Reaktion Books. pp. 395–397, 461. ISBN 9781789140101.
  6. ^ Richards 1990, p. 168.
  7. ^ a b Arwin Rahi. "Why the Durand Line Matters". The Diplomat.
  8. ^ a b Tom Lansford (2017). Afghanistan at War: From the 18th-Century Durrani Dynasty to the 21st Century. ABC CLIO. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-59884-760-4.
  9. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume XI, Part 2". Office of the Historian. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Naming the line". The News. 13 September 2017.
  11. ^ M.D. Hamid Hadi (2016). Afghanistan's Experiences: The History of the Most Horrifying Events Involving Politics, Religion, and Terrorism. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-5246-0006-8.

Further reading

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  • Adamec, L. W. (1985). "Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume II/1: Anāmaka–Anthropology. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-71009-101-7.
  • Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. The Anglo-Afghan Wars 1839–1919 (2014)
  • Tripodi, Christian. "Grand Strategy and the Graveyard of Assumptions: Britain and Afghanistan, 1839–1919." Journal of Strategic Studies 33.5 (2010): 701–725. online
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