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AMANULLAH

Amanullah's chief trouble was undoubtedly the Treas-
ury. He found himself baulked on every side just when
he wished to forge ahead with his most grandiloquent
schemes. There was little use in attempting to choke
the purdah system while he could not pay for his new
alternatives to women's forced leisure. He could not
conduct with severity his campaign against corruption
while he was unable to pay his officers sufficiently to
keep them from the temptation. Life was a vicious
circle. For the moment he could not see a solution.

The Army, persuaded into the belief that they had
conquered in the field against Great Britain, flattered
by a dozen speeches made by their commander, had
become restive and inclined to hanker for more laurels
to fall easily upon their heads. Discipline was bad, now
that they were no longer kept up to pitch by the inspir-
ing example of Amanullah. The soldiers held the natural
belief that they were often being robbed of their earnings
by the higher officers. They, too, were not ignored by
the mullahs.

Kabul itself was affected by the get-rich-quick mania
which swept the world. Things were changing even here,
and the old men chatting in the samovar shops would say
that never in their lives had they seen matters at such
a pass. Thex*e was an uncertain feeling in the air, and
even the evident prosperity of certain shopkeepers and
the certain prosperity of the officers in the Government
posts, did not serve to quieten the fears of the old gossips.

Kabul was indeed changed. Nowadays it was not
unusual to see half a dozen foreign faces in the bazaar
in a walk of half the length of the dark, covered-in main
thoroughfare* They were Turks mostly, and a few
Russians. They were bent on business, but nobody in
that mysterious city could be certain that they were
not Government spies*

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