1941-02-24 — Page 5

Trip To Kabul

The few travellers that from time to time make their way into Afghanistan, generally go by way of the Khyber Pass, and it was by this famous Fass that I went up to Kabul to join the staff there of the first British Embassy to Afghanistan.

protect the pass, are collectively patch here and there where the the right. The temperature fell and a keen wind responsible for the safety of the snow had melted end laid bare considerably, Pass itself, and fifty yards on the mountain side.

sprang up, which penetrated the each side of it. The frequen

Seven miles from Torkham is fur coat I wore. blood-feuds between the various fought out is this area. hill tribes, are not allowed to be Dacca, a small village in a wide

Round and round the mountain Violence valley, surrounded by a mud wall, have now

become from which the children scamper- paths the car zigzagged, and at and sniping

forth and shouted their moments it seemed as if we must extremely rare, and the Khyber ed may

the at

present time

car sped past, be shot over the be salaams as the

precipice into fraversed with greater security What was particularly noticeable

Thick ice was. than some of the London or Paris were the features of the young the gorge below. Detraining at Peshawar, the

of the slopes, thoroughfures by day, for the girls, which strikingly resembled lying on some of the North Western man who would railhead

of the oki biblical types venture in the the

while a blinding dust, driven by colour to the Railway, and

ut night, would Israelites, lending Indian

the most Khyber Pass

ecurt almost certain death, After claim of the Afghans to be one the wind, considerably impeded. northerly British military canton-nightfall, even the Afridis them-of the ten lost tribes of Israel. progress, as it was difficult to see ment station in the North-West | selves, when belated, avoid the

either many steps in advance Frontier Province of India, I pro-Pass, and reach their villages by

man or beast. We frequently ran ceeded by motor car onwards at

into the tail end of a caravan be- fore either was aware of the pre- two o'clock in the alternoon.

sence of the other. When there would be a shouting and a scam- pering, the camels In their fright

path, narrow

For Jamrud, which guards the

devious side paths.

Proceeding on the journey, Fort Al Majid was reached at 4.50 p.m. Isolated, on a small ridge above the furt, overlooked by

Terrific Heat

Hitler has set his own goal, and the time is near when he must deliver Indian side of the Khyber Pass, grim and rugged mountains, was stage, was reached at 4 p.m. where dashing now to one side of the This fast-approaching ten miles distant from Peshawar, crisis is not only a deadly was soon reached,

men

and entering the Pass, followed a narrow, zig- zag track, running between bleak. rocks and overhanging crags.

stress, one of the most ap- palling that

and women have been called! to bear in all history, but it brings with it a flaming! the ceaseless watch kept in this

On all sides there were signs of

kev to India, both to protect the Pass, and to prevent the fierce

hope. If Britain holds] him off, Hitler will have Pathan tribes that dwell in the suffered disaster on the adjoining mountains, from sweep- most bitter and undeni-ing down on a marauding ex- able scale.

pedition

the fertile plains

in

below.

into

There was hul little movement, though ench ridge was dotted with picquets of soldiers, and on all commanding positions could be seen forts and blockhouses cutting into the skyline.

Although Berlin was aflutter last summer with gay speculations whether England would fall July or August, Hitler himself was too cagey to commit himself to a time- table. In June, right after Dunkirk, he merely promised 'destruction,"

Overhead, along the line of the without dates, of the track, ran the tireless aerial rope- enemy in London and way, used for transporting ma- Paris.

~} #1 H} terfal for the Khyber Railway,

Guardians Of Khyber Pass

and abo to

convoy Food an 1

સ

W. Rees By W.

Harriss,

M. I. J. Lond

a small British cemetery where few young officers and men, who were killed in action against the Afridis in 1919, are buried,

Panorama Of Wild

rocks.

Scenery

The caravan stations of Basa- wal, ten miles from Daces, and of Balticot, ten miles further on. and successively were

passed, Jellaabad, ten miles from the last

seemed for a a halt was to be made for the

perilously over night at the Bagh-i-Shahi (Gar-moment to hang

then the ledge, and

in terror den of the King).

scampered to the other side, where their drivers would try to holds their heads towards the mountain slope as we motored by, in im-

The last stage was over a com- paratively wide valley, dominated by the Safed Koh on the left, and the Laghman Ridge on the right. Heavy stretches of sand here and there considerably impeded pro- gress. It is said that in July, under the influence of the terrine heat which prevalis, this sund in places becomes so hot that it is possible to cook an egg in it.

minent risk of the camels back- ing, and pushing us over the pre- cipice.

World's Weirdest Place:

Jagdallak, fifty miles from Jelalabad, was reached at 6 o'clock Of all weird in the evening. Jelalabad, famous for the de- places in the world, it is difficult fence by Sir George Sale in 1839, to imagine one more weird then is situated on the Kabul river, this, A single, solitary hill rose almost midway between the up from a narrow valley, on one The route from Ali Masjid lay Peshawar valley and Kabul. It side if which was the bed of a through a narrow gorge, hemmed has a permanent population of river, almost dry, except for a in on all sides by overhanging 3,000 souls, which is largely in- | few rills coursing erratically over The road was one tor creased in the winter by an in- the plain, which uniting a little tuous, winding course, changing flux of tribesmen from the sur- farther on, disappeared into a its direction with kaleidoscopic sounding hills,

this who come down

round narrow gorge. All rapidity, and presenting an to enjoy the milder climate. plain rose up pleak and grim hills, endless panorama of wild scenery,

devoid of all vegetation, some of whose ruggedness and grimness tilled one with a feeling of awe. Profound stillness reigned, only broken by the movement of the automobile, which the narrow, ledge-like road, now taking a sharp turn to the right then an abrupt turn to the left now ascending. then descending, while the track left in the rear seemed to resemble Darrow

the rocky slopes.

rushed over

On September 4 he re-stores to the troops wotching in streaks, one above the other, on assured his people: the farther outposts. "When the British say: 'He doesn't come,' my an- swer is: 'Keep your shirts

on

the

The present guardians of

called Khassadars, Khyber Pass, consist of an irregular force of

Afridis, raised on

tein, the maliks (chiefs) of each tribe furnishing reliable quotas ol men for this purpose.

This

them Beautiful Gardens

Passed

entered

Begh-1-Shahi was through a beautiful avenue of cypress trees, which led into a spacious garden, in the centre of which were the palace buildings and guest-houses.

of the most grotesque shapes, cutting of all view of the country beyond. A place of sin- ister memory, for it was at Jag- dallal that the fierce tribes that inhabit this district fell on the disorganised and demoralised Bri- tish force that had retreated from Kabul in the winter of 1839, and literally exterminated them, only one man out of twelve thousand escaping to tell the news of the most tragic disaster that ever befell British arms.

These grounds, enclosed by 3 mud wall about twelve feet high,

laid out were beautifully

with Landi Kotal, ten miles from flowers arranged in ornamental

beds, and plots of fruit trees, in- Nightfall was already approach- Ali Majid, was reached ut 6 p.m.

situated in is a fort

and the paths tastefullying, theterspersed with

dark-gay clouds middle of the Pass in a large cir- adorned with

pams and

ferns. looked heavy with snow, as the round the steep conspicuous, car zigzagged the tribal sys-cular plain, shut in on all sides Orange trees were

the by lofty hills, at presert garrison- and many had fruit ripening ou ascent and finally reached ed by English and Guika troops. them. There are said to be five summit of the hill, which formed:

hundred trees

plateau, in the grounds, a small, quadrangular

balustrade of which were planted in a single flanked by a low day, ten each by fty of the stone, in the centre of which was courtiers of the then Amir, at his a rest-house of the Amir. Here, order. Marble channels irrigated at an altitude of 7,000 feet, the notwith- the grounds, drawing their water night was passed, and from several artificial tanks, in standing the huge log fires that.

burned on the open hearth of my which fountains played.

room, the cold and pitiless winds that prevail at this time of the year made rest impossible.

he is coming.'' His New Year's greet- ings to the army promis- ed: "The year 1941 will bring consummation of Before the British the greatest victory in our of the Khyber, the several tribes that occupied this region levied history."

folls on all passengers and cara- their res- pective sections, on an average

vans passing through

occupation

each five miles of the Pass re- presenting a kind of independent kingdom, with fiscal autonomy.

His anniversary speech this

month predicted: "The year 1941 will be a historic year for the new

Pass Now Quite Safe Order." European

He spoke of "definite bases," Finally; these tribes were given an anuual subsidy equal to the and "when the time comes amount of their yearly revenue the At present we will launch a decisive from the tolls.

body of Khussadars enrolled to

blow. These gentlemen

will realise in this historic

London Street In

Wilderness

was to

As I motored into the precincts of the fortress, where I spend the night, a team of Bri- tish soldiers was seen playing football on the plain. The sol- diers In this far-llung outposi seemed to know how to make themselves ut home. Another evidence of this was forthcoming when a little later on In

Fiercert Tribe In Afghanistan

next

Captivating Scene ̋ journey next Resuming the

the Leaving Jagdallak the morning at 10 o'clock, we pro- evening I took a stroll along the ceeded through a narrow valley, morning at 9.30 a.m. we followed road, past the a winding path over the moun- military lines.

Looking at a sign over a metalled post, I observed that I was in walled villages of Bowali, Sultan-tains, on all the slopes and sum- and Fatehabad, Bond Street."

each mits of which lay deep snow. Im- Somewhat fur- pore ther on were "Whitehall," the situated ten miles from one an-mediately it front was the Lata- "Embankment," and to crown all other, to Nimlah, where these is bandoRange, which dominated the

# rest-house

Amir. of the "L'avenue de la Grande Armee,"

A scene, and stood out against the was made here, It horizon as a huge barrier. As we which was given to one of the short halt

was quite an idyllic spot. The approached nearer, the Half Kotal year that we used time cess. Hitler must win, Gurka lines.

rest-house was situated in the Pass opened up. Soon a captivat- well." He saw 1941 as the and if the assault fails, he

midst of a charming old gardening panorama came into view. The journey was continued next of the Moghul type, said to have All around was one vast expanse year in which his armies has been defeated. No morning to the frontier over the been planted in 1610 by Shah of white, from which snowclad "will wrest victory."

excuses! Time, after Nichni Kandao summit, and then Jehan, father of Aurangzeb, the summits sprang up, forming an down a descent of some 3,000 last Moghul emperor of India, and undulating series of white pin- Seizure of England and that, runs swiftly against feet, a precipitous drop down the contains Sonte fine fecimens of nicles, which stretched out row ending of the

war are him, and the spirit of his side of a steep mountain slope, the chenar tree, several, of which upon row until they merged in into valleys which alternately are over hundred years old. the horizon beyond. Higher and Hitler's pledges under the

followers may drop to 1918 broadened and contracted, and so

higher we ascended, until we to Landi Khana, the last British contract, to be delivered levels.

Nimiah is situated in the Khug seemed to have reached the level outpost, and the Afghan bound- this year. His victory

It is a desperate chance ary at Torkham, which was reach-Lani's country, whose inhabitants of the summits, around. We were cannot be deferred. Not

line of white are reputed to be the wildest and now on the highest point of the separated British

Alercest in the Amir's dominions.pass, Balutok, 8,250 feet above sen- and

When the journey

was resumed level. From here the descent to occupy and destroy the on which the world's free-Stones

in front of where my motor car

narrow, precipitous power of England, even to dom depends

to a

dead standstill, as get a glimpse of the people, but through the the eyes of the propagan- sion whether Britain now came

barred further beyond a few children who gam- paths, from where the snow had and piled against defend her island Afghan sentries

bolled and shouted salaams, and been cleared da-saturated Nazi zealots, can

mountain side we progress, was a large signboard the gamble of on which

a few women who took a coy look against the was written in bold

into the Kabul would be a failure beside against which

burkhas, no one was to be seen. gorge. Italy's debacle 1941's Genghis Khan, who characters in English: "It is ab- at the motor from beneath their finally emerged

forbidden to cross solutely

The men folks seemed to be ali would look almost like must sweep onward or border into Afghan territory."

absent. winning.

perish.

After inspection of passports,

ed at noon. A

this deci- Afghan territory, and a few yards at 12.30 p.m., I was curious to commenced, and zigzagging down

1

the

Leaving the gorge we entered a wide plain between low-lying hills, and came to Buthal, where there is a small rest-house, After making a brief halt at this place, the journey was continued over a broad plain for about six miles to Baghrami, a shooting-lodge of the the left bank Amir, situated on

miles . of the Logar river, five from Kabul City, which had been next appointed by the Afghan Govern per- ment as the temporary residence

The road soon became very And so Hitler must It is inescapable. And the journey was resumed,

much obstructed by camel car avans, which seemed to form con- throw into this boasted it is not hopeless. The I was now in the Independent tinuous streams moving in op- effort all the strength he hope of the world is back- Kingdom of Afghanistan. There posite directions, and the car had sudden change in the continually to slow up, as the has. His 'planes must ed by a courage which has sca

landscape. Το the right the camels reared and jumped about

stood out sharp in evident distress. blacken the sky, all of accomplished miracles al-Mohmand Hills them. Millions of his sol-ready. Grant survival to and majestic with their snow-

Nearing Jagdallak, the clad peaks glistening in the mid- diers must push into the Britain in the months just day sun, while to the left was the stop the road narrowed

Safed Koh (White Mountains), ceptibly, and steadily ascendêd a of the British Legation, and which

moat.of.. the channel, ahead, and the long lane overtowering all the hills in the winding track. Range upon range was duly reached at six o'clock spending - lives without of Hitler's conquest has foreground, and forming as far as of hills rose up before us, bound in the evening as the setting sun the eye could see one long, un-ed by the Safed Koh on the left, dropped behind the showy peaks? count in order to buy suc- reached its turning.

broken line of white, save for a l'and the majestic Hindu Kush in of the mighty Hisdu Kush,