EX-KING OF AFGHANISTAN

and see-saw equivocation, Habibullah would have been
the last Afghan Amir of Kabul.

As the British in India came to realise that they could
place more and more trust in his secret promise of strict
neutrality, troops were drafted even from the northern
stations of the Khybcr Pass to fill up the ranks in
Flanders. India was not undefended, but its defences
were manned by an irreducible skeleton force incapable
of resisting long attacks.

It was one of the greatest risks taken in the Great
War, and its justification depended on the verbal
agreement of a " faithless Afghan."

Early in the years of the Great War Amanullah
married again* His bride was Souriya, of Syrian
attraction, educated and beautiful. The marriage
could not be expected to cause the stir that the first
marriage had meant for friends and relatives, and if the
truth be told the name of Amanullah was fading into
the background during these days, in favour of more
diplomatic and closer friends of the Court.

Little attention, therefore, was paid to the new
maiden of his choice. Yet she was worth the study.
She had brains — hitherto disregarded among the swains
of Afghanistan as a qualification for the capture of
their hearts. She had beauty. And she was willing to
follow Amanullah through all the tribulations and
troubles into which his boldness was bound to lead him.

Her name is curious. It has connections with Pleiades.
Souriya lived up to the name. She used her beauty
and tact to effect when later she was called upon to
test the revolutionary ideals of her husband.

It is a pity that the Kabulis of that day did not take
very much interest in the bride. She was in strict
purdah, of course, and religiously followed every precept
that the mullahs laid down for her. Nothing could have

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