The Elphinstone Mission, the ‘Kingdom of Caubul’ and the Turkic World

Abstract

Using Elphinstone's published and unpublished papers, this paper examines the Turkic influences at the Saddozai court and in the dynasty's geopolitical relations – influences which have been greatly underexplored due to colonial focus on Afghanistan's Indian frontier and the Pushtuns tribes and by Afghan nationalist discourse. The rise of the Durrani dynasty is located within the context of the demise of three Turkic dynasties—Safavid, Mughal, Tuqay-Timurid—while the Saddozai rise to power was achieved only because of its alliance with Safavid Persia. This heritage was perpetuated by the use of Turkic titles and protocols at the Saddozai court, the reliance on Turkic "ghulams" as the backbone of Saddozai military power, and dynastic intermarriage with the Qizilbash. The chapter concludes by critiquing Elphinstone's demarcation of Afghanistan's northern frontier and his assertion of Durrani sovereignty over the former Tuqay-Timurid "wilayat" of Balkh from the Murghab to the Kokcha rivers. It is argued that the Elphinstone frontier is deeply flawed, examining numerous inconsistences between Elphinstone's published map and Macartney's unpublished one, as well as inconsistencies in Elphinstone's own notes and those of other mission members.