nistan, our statesmen have, with some notable
exceptions, mishandled the Afghan problem. And yet it is simple enough
in itself. For we want very little of Afghanistan, and she does
not really want much of us. All we want from the Amir is
good-neighbourliness; that he should not allow his country to become the
focus of intrigue or aggression against us by Powers hostile to us, and
that he should co-operate with us for the maintenance of peace on our
common border. All he wants of us is some assistance in money and
munitions for the internal and external safeguarding of his realm,
commercial and other facilities, and honourable recognition, for the
Afghan, like the Indian, has a craving for self-respect and the respect
of others.

Now, where our statesmen have failed is in regarding Afghanistan as a
petty little State to be browbeaten and ordered about at our pleasure,
without recognising the very valuable cards that the Amir holds against
us. He sees his hand and appraises it at its value. He knows, in the
first place, that nothing can be more embarrassing to us than the
necessity for another Afghan war, and the despatch of a large force to
the highlands of Kabul, to sit there possibly for years as an army of
occupation, in a desolate country, incapable of affording supplies for
the troops, at enormous cost which could never be recovered, and at the
expense of much health and life, with no clear-cut policy beyond. He
knows, in the second place, that such a war would be the signal for the
rising of practically every tribe along our frontier. The cry of _Jehad_
would go forth, as in the third Afghan war, and we should be confronted
sooner or later with an outburst from the Black Mountain to
Baluchistan--a formidable proposition in these days. He knows, in the
third place, that with Moslem feeling strained as it is to-day on the
subject of Turkey, there would be sympathy for him in India, and among
the Moslem troops of the Indian army. Now these are serious
considerations, but I do not suggest that they are so serious as to make
us tolerate for a moment an offensive or unreasonable attitude on the
part of the Amir. If the necessity should be forced on us, which God
forbid, we should face the position with promptitude and firmness and
hit at once; and apart from an advance into Afghanistan we have a
valuable card in the closing of the passes and the blockade of that
country.

All I suggest is that in negotiating with Afgha