William Dalrymple
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” This book brings that quote to life! More than the book itself, kudos to Dalrymple for choosing a subject that has so much of relevance in the contemporary era! In fact, I wish it were written a few years earlier. ‘Return of a King’ is the story of the British (East India Company) invasion of Khurasan (modern day Afghanistan) in 1839 in an effort to establish their man Shah Shuja ul-Mulk, (descendant of the Ahmad Shah Durrani, regarded to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan) on the Kabul throne in place of the incumbent Dost Mohammed. That was the easy part, but as one Afghan commented then, the British had gotten in, but how would they maintain this status quo, or even get out? In a couple of years, the Afghans, in an ever changing mixture of coalitions, rebelled against the British and massacred them on their way back to Hindustan. The British then created an Army of Retribution to avenge this, and ended up bringing things back to square one.
What set off this chain of events is something I have read about in some Sherlock Holmes adventures and seen alluded to in other works like ‘Kim’. The Great Game, an international milieu of intrigue that pitched the mighty powers of the time – Russia and Britain – against one another. Afghanistan, as per British intelligence, was where Russia was poised to strike next, to control Central Asia. This was supposed to be achieved with Dost Mohammed’s help. The Russian plans were far less threatening than reported by the British and ended up creating a war that need not have been. There is some amazing parallel here with what the Russians (80s) and the Americans (now) tried to do in Afghanistan!
The central figure, through much of the book, is Shah Shuja, and it is difficult not to feel sorry for him. He never really had luck on his side, and after initially being forced into exile for 30 years, he came back to the throne in a way that was not appreciated by his citizens. Just when he looked ready to finally set things right, he was assassinated. Dalrymple makes it a point to clear his name. An intelligent, refined person who might have done better (at least in the time frame of the Afghan war) if he was left to his own devices, he gets none of this credit in Afghanistan, where he is seen as the one who brought in the firangis, or in British chronicles of the era.
In the current scenario as well as in the past, the invaders came in for their own selfish motives, with no real idea of the challenges they’d face and no coherent plans on how they’d stay or get out. What they have and do leave behind is a legacy of annihilation – of people, nature, culture and the psyche of an entire population. The last words in the book – attributed to an Afghan elder talking to the author, are chilling – “These are the last days of the Americans. Next it will be China.”
Well researched, and written in a much crisper way than one normally associates the author with, this is a compelling read, especially if you’re interested in history and the back stories of current geo-politics.
