St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies

28 Санкт-Петербургская международная конференция по афганистике Секция 1. Историография и источниковедение Афганистана... photographs and maps. They are mainly connected with Lumsden’s service in India and Afghanistan. The papers offer a fascinating insight into the serious crisis of the British-Russian relations in 1884–1885 and form an important part of the systematic collection of documents related to the ABC kept by the Swiss Afghanistan Institute. The Institute’s ABCP roject combines research on thewritten historical material with visual evidence, and the paper presented in St Petersburg will put theABC Project into the historical and geopolitical context: Afghanistan’s boundaries are not only national borders, but will remain strategic frontiers and demarcation lines of global importance. The Geopolitical Context Since 1869 London and St Petersburg had tried to reach an agreement on their respective spheres of influence in CentralAsia. In 1872–1873, the negotiations ended with an exchange of letters between the British and Russian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Lord Granville and Prince Gorchakov. All areas ruled by Amir Sher Ali Khan would be regarded as the Afghan territory. But the Amir was not allowed to extend his influence beyond its borders, and the British Indian Government agreed to prevent Kabul from any offensive action. Likewise, the Russian side had to stop any advance by the Amir of Bukhara on the Afghan-controlled territory. Due to the unexplored geography of Central Asia, the 1872–1873 agreement left an ample room for interpretation. Between the Hari Rud and theAmu Darya one issue in particular proved to be controversial: according to the Russian understanding the steppe areas used by Turkoman tribes as grazing lands were outsideAfghan control. This unsolved problem became critical after the Russians took Merv in February 1884. London and St Petersburg agreed to establish a joined boundary commission. The British part of the commission was led by Major General Sir Peter Lumsden, who as a young lieutenant had participated in the Baluchistan Boundary Commission in 1857. In November 1884 he established his headquarter at Tirpul, west of Herat. The situation had become critical. The Panjdeh incident Shortly after the Russian arrival in Merv in 1884, an Afghan garrison was deployed to Panjdeh — an oasis situated 120 miles north of Herat. The place was inhabited by Sarik Turkomans and according to the Russian understanding it was outside the Afghan territory. The ruler of Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, regarded Panjdeh to had been under the authority of Kabul, as these Turkomans had paid taxes to Herat for many years and called themselves Afghan subjects. The Afghan contingent, accompanied by British officers, was ordered to defend its position against an advancing Russian column. On March 30, 1885, the Russian forces attacked. After a short but fierce fight, they defeated the Afghans. Lt-General Komarov, military commander of the