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THE RELATION OF AFGHANISTAN T@CT ** WZu
ITS NEIGHBORS. j

ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON.

Reprinted from The Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia,
Vol. VI, No. 4,1908.

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THE RELATION OF AFGHANISTAN TO ITS
NEIGHBORS.

Ellsworth Huntington.
The activity of the Afghans upon the northwestern frontier of
India during the spring of 1908 calls attention once more to the
peculiar relation which Afghanistan bears to both England and
Russia. In itself Afghanistan has very little importance to the
world at large. To be sure its area is greater than that of either
France or Germany; but its population of between four and five
million only equals that of our two states of Kentucky and Tennes
see, and is not one-tenth that of Germany. Recent history has no
record of any Afghan who has had a perceptible influence upon
lands outside his own; and the foreign trade of the country is
almost too small to be mentioned, although the Netherlands with a
population only slightly larger have a total import and export trade
of over a billion dollars a year. , Nevertheless Afghanistan has
played a prominent part in the history of Asia, and to-day the con
duct of the Afghans is one of the most critical factors in determin
ing the relation between England and Russia. Time after time
Afghan princes have conquered northern India and Persia, and for
many centuries Afghan dynasties have sat on the thrones of those
countries. At present the natural lines of communication between
Europe and India on the one hand, and between Russia and the
Indian Ocean, on the other hand, lie through Afghanistan or along
its borders. Therefore the preservation of British rule in India
and the realization of Russia's aspirations for commercial develop
ment are both dependent on the political condition of the Afghans.
In order to understand the political relations of Afghanistan, it
is necessary to have a clear conception of its geography. The
country may be divided into regions of very varying size charac
terized by special topographic forms and hence by special modes
of life. The north-central and eastern portion of Afghanistan con
sists of lofty mountains and plateaus. Around this on every side
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2 Relation of Afghanistan to Its Neighbors
except the east, where the great highlands of northern India lie,
there is a piedmont belt where the plateaus descend into low hills
bordering great plains of gravel and silt brought down from the
mountains. After the piedmont region is left behind, the plain
becomes a vast sandy desert almost uninhabitable. The plain to
the north of the central mountains forms the Russian province
of Transcaspia; that to the south forms the Helmund Desert and
is the third division of Afghanistan. The fourth and smallest
division is the lacustrine basin of Seyistan in the southwestern cor
ner. The corresponding basin far to the north is occupied by the
Sea of Aral and the Russian protectorate of " lone Khiva in the
waste." The mountains and plateaus are the life and strength of
Afghanistan. A great district some five hundred miles long and
two hundred miles wide is nowhere less than 5,000 feet above the
sea; in many places large areas lie at heights of eight or ten
thousand feet, while the higher peaks rise to an elevation of 15,000
or even 20,000 feet. In such a region there is naturally much rain
and snow ; the temperature is low ; agriculture can be carried on
only in the more favored valleys; and in general the conditions of
life are hard. Naturally the people are largely pastoral. Even
where they live in permanent villages, they are in the habit of mov
ing about with their flocks in summer. The higher mountain
ranges divide the country into small isolated sections between which
communication is not easy. Thus a tribal organization of society
is fostered, and the highlands are full of hostile clans like those of
northern Scotland a few centuries ago. Inasmuch as the tribesmen
are usually poor as well as hardy, it is not surprising that they
should look upon their more prosperous neighbors of the lowlands
with envy. And since the men of the hills are nomads to whom
rapid movement with or without their families is a matter of course,
they have naturally developed the common mountaineers' tendency
to become plunderers. Retaliation is impossible because the low-
landers are not competent to attack the highlanders in their moun
tain fastnesses, and because if they were thus competent, reprisals
would be of little use since it is impossible to get at the tribesmen
in order to kill them, and they have no property of any special value
which can be destroyed to teach them a lesson. The recent raids
of the Afghans upon northern India are merely the latest expres-
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Ellsworth Huntington 3
sion of the fact that the contrasted topographic nature of the
Afghan highlands and of the plains of the Indus favors the devel
opment of a somewhat unpleasant, pugnacious type of character
among the hillsmen, and of a type of political organization which
makes it impossible for the nominal ruler to bind his subjects.
Among the Kaffirs, or Siakh Push, who live in the extreme
northeast of Afghanistan a still more notable example of the effect
of a mountainous environment is seen. They have been driven
into the very wildest and most inaccessible parts of the mountains
by invading Afghans, and have there developed the mountain char
acter to its limit. Living where none but the hardiest can survive,
they glory in enduring cold and hunger, and count it creditable to
go around with one arm naked in bitter winter weather. All men
except those of their own immediate valleys are enemies to them.
No young man can take a wife until he has killed a certain number
of the hated Mohammedans who drove his people into their fast
nesses and now occupy most of the land.
In the piedmont region where the plateaus break down to the
plains there is a region much pleasanter than the rugged highlands.
Here, at an elevation of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet, fair valleys are
filled with fruit trees and grain fields, or oases appear as patches of
green surrounding the mud villages of prosperous farmers. Rain is
not plentiful, and the hillsides are parched for much of the year, but
the snowy highlands supply abundant water for irrigation. The
chief wealth of the country and the majority of the inhabitants of
Afghanistan are located in this region. Many of the farmers are
also shepherds and move to the mountains at certain seasons. All
the people are more or less warlike, although by no means equal
to their upland neighbors. If they were not able to fight, they
would soon be ousted, as they often are, by their more hardy com
patriots of the highlands. Trade is somewhat developed in the
piedmont region, and in it lie most of the important towns, Kanda
har on the south, Herat on the west, and Mazar-i-Sherif on the
north. Kabul on the east belongs properly to this same division
of the country, although it is located at . a rather high elevation
among the mountains. Nevertheless it is one of the places where
agriculture is the prevailing occupation and the people are sedentary
in the strict sense of the word.
The desert plain which forms the southern part of Afghanistan
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4 Relation of Afghanistan to Its Neighbors
is a dry, barren waste of gravel and sand. The few travellers who
have crossed it describe it in terms of anything but approbation.
Much of it is absolutely uninhabitable except for a short time when
the spring rains cause a little herbage to flourish for a month or
two. The few nomads who dwell in the more habitable portions
near the streams are a poverty-stricken people, prone to plunder and
theft because they have so little with which to support life.
The fourth division of Afghanistan consists merely of the delta
of the Helmund River and a few other small areas on the shore of
the lake or swamp of Seyistan. The entire population is concen
trated into a comparatively small area. Most of the Seyistanis
practise agriculture, although a few nomads come in from the desert
at certain seasons. As the farmers of Seyistan do not have to
travel about with flocks and as they are largely cut off from ene
mies by the surrounding desert they have little need of fighting, and
are of a less warlike disposition than the rest of the Afghans.
Their oasis, as Seyistan may properly be called, is not wholly under
Afghan rule, for half of it belongs to Persia, an arrangement which
defies all geographic principles, and has led to endless political
squabbling. • Aside from the character of its people, there are few things
which have so great an influence upon the political relations of a
country as the nature of its boundaries. This is especially the case
in a primitive state like Afghanistan where trade is as yet very
little developed. The boundaries of the country are unsatisfactory.
Instead of coinciding with natural lines of division, they often cut
across them. On the east the boundary between Afghanistan and
India is formed by the Suliman Mountains. These mountains rise
steeply on the Indian side and are difficult of access from that direc
tion. On the Afghan side, however, they partake of the character
of a plateau rather than of a mountain range, and are much more
easily accessible. On the Indian side they are almost uninhabited,
on the Afghan side they contain a sparse population of warlike
nomads.. At their base in India prosperous agricultural com
munities are well provided with animals and other forms of
wealth coveted by the poor Afghans across the border. If the
Suliman Mountains were high enough or cold enough to be unin
habitable, or if they were in a part of the world where there was
rain enough so that the lowlands on the Afghan side were more
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Ellsworth Huntington 5
habitable than the mountains, they would form an effectual barrier
and would serve as a good international boundary. Under the
present conditions of habitability they are a poor boundary, as Eng
land has found to her cost. Try as she will, it is almost impossible
to keep the Afghans in order when they suffer from famine or
when the desire to raid the lowlands takes hold upon them for any
reason. Little by little England has had to push the frontier of
India forward in self-defense to save the lowlanders from the high
land Afghans. The present raids have a certain purely political
bearing, perhaps, but back of that lies the geographic fact which
will keep the border always in a state of chronic disorder unless
some strong power takes the Afghan tribes in hand. England has
given a pledge to Russia to refrain from interfering with Afghan
istan internally, but she may have to interfere in spite of herself
by reason of the compulsion of the inexorable facts of geography.
The northern boundary of Afghanistan is fairly effective so
long as it follows the Oxus River. In its upper course the stream
flows in a deep gorge among lofty mountains. The gorge is hard to
cross; and there is little difficulty in preserving the frontier inviol
able. The country on both sides is poor and is very difficult to
traverse. The inhabitants on both the Russian and Afghan sides
are ready to plunder if they have a chance, but there is nothing to
tempt them to make raids upon one another. The raiders would
be likely to suffer quite as much as the raided. Farther down
stream the Oxus valley becomes wider, and the mountains on either
side retire somewhat. The river is still a fairly effective boundary,
however, so far as the prevention of disturbances along the border
is concerned. The Russians defend it with a strong hand ; and the
people on the two sides are of nearly equal strength and wealth,
and are in the main agricultural, so that there is little danger of
raids like those upon the Indian frontier. The river is far from
being an ideal boundary, however, in one very important respect,
as will appear shortly. From the point where the northern frontier
of Afghanistan leaves the Oxus it proceeds in a southwesterly and
westerly direction for over 300 miles to the Heri Rud River. The
line is here purely arbitrary, traversing first the plain west of the
Oxus and then the foot-hills and low mountains of the upper drain
age area of the Murghab, or river of Merv. It cuts directly across
a region inhabited by people of a single race whom it places under
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6 Relation of Afghanistan to Its Neighbors
two contrasted governments which pursue highly different policies.
The result is that the Afghan Turkomans who inhabit the region are
always ready to think that their own particular government is op
pressing them unduly, and that they would be much happier under
that which prevails across the border.
Russia, like England, has agreed to refrain from all interference
with the internal affairs of Afghanistan. She has further agreed
to carry on all diplomatic relations with that country through the
English Foreign Office which exercises jurisdiction over Afghanis
tan in international affairs. Two things make it difficult for Russia
to live up to her promises. In the first place the trade of the north
ern third of Afghanistan flows naturally to Russian Turkestan and
the Central Asian railroad, just as that of the southern part flows
naturally to India. It would be highly unnatural for the trade of
either part of the country to cross the great mass of mountains in
the center. Moreover a large number of laborers go from northern
Afghanistan to Russian territory to get work. When the American
archaeological expedition sent out by the Carnegie Institution of
Washington under the direction of Mr. Pumpelly was excavating
at Merv many of the one hundred and fifty laborers employed were
from Afghanistan. The Afghans go back and forth freely. If
they get into trouble, as often happens, it involves dealings between
the governments of Russia and the Amir of Afghanistan. The
comparative ease with which the emigrants earn money in Russian
territory and the degree of peace and justice which they enjoy there
make them highly dissatisfied with their own corrupt rule ; and they
naturally desire closer relations with Russia.
Another reason why the northern boundary of Afghanistan is
unsatisfactory from a geographic standpoint is found in its relation
to the water supply of Transcaspia. In dry regions like the parts
of central Asia under discussion the prosperity and even the life
of the people depend directly upon the supply of water for irriga
tion. The large Transcaspian oases of Tejen, Merv, and Khiva,
not to mention many smaller ones, derive their water from rivers
which rise in Afghanistan. Part of the water is diverted before it
crosses the frontier. In seasons of abundant rainfall this is not a
source of difficulty. In dry years, however, the people who live up
stream are apt to attempt to take more water than formerly or to
take it in new places. Whether they do so or not, the people down
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Ellsworth Huntington 7
stream are almost sure to think that they do. When the supply
of water is small the most natural thing, in their view, is to suppose
that someone has been drawing it off higher up stream. Thus very
bitter feelings are engendered, and are likely to break out in vio
lence at any time. The Russians are bound to look after the water
supply of their subjects just as the British are bound to look after
the protection of theirs from raids. The accomplishment of either
end is very difficult without the infringement of the present arbi
trary boundaries.
The southern boundary of Afghanistan may be dismissed briefly.
Most of the way it traverses an utter desert. It is good because
there are almost no people along it, it is difficult to cross, and there
is nothing there which anyone wants.
The western boundary, that between Afghanistan and Persia,
is good in parts and in parts extremely bad. It follows quite closely
the line of what has been called the Afghan depression. On a good
map it can be seen that along this line there are a number of pecu
liar features. The Heri Rud River breaks through the great chain
of mountains which form the northern border of the plateau, or more
properly basin of Iran, which comprises most of Persia, Afghan
istan and Baluchistan. The mountains of Afghanistan do not quite
match those of Persia, the ranges of the more western country lying
about fifty miles north of the corresponding ranges of the eastern
country. The Persian mountains rise abruptly in many places,
forming an escarpment facing toward the east, while the Afghan
ranges die out gradually, spreading out like great fingers and sink
ing little by little into a plain of gravel which stretches away for
miles westward to the Persian escarpment. Here and there at the
foot of the escarpment broad, flat hollows are occupied by salt
lakes such as those of Nemeksar, Kulberenj, and Seyistan, lying
largely in Persia, and God-i-Zirreh, and Mashkel, which lie in
Baluchistan. All these things indicate that at a somewhat recent
time, geologically speaking, there occurred a dislocation of the
earth's crust whereby the country east of the line now followed by
the western boundary of Afghanistan was depressed, while that to
the west was elevated. Hence the break between the mountain
systems of the two countries, the gap through which the Heri Rud
was able to find a way out from Iran to the northern plains of
Turan. Hence also the escarpment with deposits of gravel at its
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8 Relation of Afghanistan to Its Neighbors
base alternating with hollows filled by lakes. The line of depres
sion forms an excellent boundary in most places because the region
is absolute desert. Along the Heri Rud it is only fairly effective,
and where the fertile oasis of Seyistan is cut into halves the bound
ary is a mere makeshift. Seyistan properly belongs to Afghanis
tan, and in course of time it will probably be again united with the
southern part of that country. The recent agreement between
Russia and England giving to the one a northern and to the other
a southern sphere of influence in Persia is a step toward this con
summation. The English are fully alive to the evils of such a
boundary, for they have had the thankless task of interfering sev
eral times when the two claimants to Seyistan contended too hotly.
The dislocation of the earth's crust which gave rise to the
Afghan depression has had a marked influence upon human history
and politics. From Constantinople on the west almost to the Pacific
Ocean on the Chinese Coast, 5,000 miles away to the east, Asia is
sharply divided into a southern and a northern half by vast systems
of magnificent mountains. Nowhere along the whole of this great
distance is it easy to cross the mountains except at the Afghan
depression. There it is so easy that even in the present absence
of roads a wagon could be driven across with no worse mishap than
being tipped over a few times. It is probable that railroads will
never cross most parts of the central mountain system of Asia.
They may be built in western Persia or Turkey, perhaps, but only
at great expense not only for construction, but for operation. If
built they must of necessity follow winding courses and must climb
up and down in a way that will make transportation expensive. At
the Afghan depression, however, a railroad can cross the backbone
of the continent with practically no engineering difficulties. It
need not rise to an elevation of over 2,000 feet if it follow the
Heri Rud. Farther south it would have to rise to about 3,000 feet
in crossing the low mountains of southern Baluchistan before it
could gain the coast. On the direct line to India the Suliman
Mountains present greater difficulties, but these have already been
surmounted by three lines of rail.
Centuries ago Alexander, Jenghis Khan and other eastern con
querors passed through the Afghan depression on the way between
Iran and Turan. To-day Russia sees in it the easiest, safest and
shortest outlet to the Indian Ocean. On the north a cold climate
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Ellsworth Huntington 9
prevents her from using the magnificent harbors on the Arctic coast.
The Baltic Sea is closed for half the year and its mouth is held by
rival nations striving to outbid Russia in the world's markets. Far
to the east the Siberian ports on the Pacific are also long closed
with ice and are far from the center of Russian population. Three
and only three possible outlets are available to the growing com
merce of Russia. One is Constantinople and the Bosphorus; but
all Europe blocks her there. A second is Manchuria and the China
Sea ; but Japan with the advice and consent of the rest of the world
has dashed her hopes in that quarter. The third outlet is through
the Afghan depression ; but there England has checked her for the
present. The route from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf offers
a possible fourth outlet, but it is so beset by mountains that it can
never compete with the Afghan line.
Although the game of politics may interfere with what would
be expected from geographical premises, it seems as if within a
comparatively short time the Afghan depression must become one
of the great routes of world travel. The English railhead on the
southern frontier of Afghanistan at New Chaman near Kandahar
is only five hundred miles from the Russian railhead on the oppo
site frontier at Kushka near Herat. Throughout the whole distance
between the two there are no obstacles to railway construction. Far
and away the best line from Europe to India lies along this route.
Some day the line must be built. Afghanistan, to-day an unknown,
hermit land, will then be in the midst of the world's activities.
Therefore the control of the country is of vital importance to all
concerned. Nature has made the land of such a temper that its
people are prone to independence. She has also put in it a break
in the earth's crust which makes two of the greatest nations in the
world extremely anxious to curtail that independence.

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