National Party (Afghanistan)

National Party
Founders	Din Mohammad Andar (Ghazni) Mohammad Jan Khan (Maidan Wardak) Mir Bacha Khan (Kohistan) Ghulam Haidar Khan Charkhi (Logar) Mohammad Usman Khan (Tagab)
Ghazi	Mohammad Musa Khan
Foundation	Second Anglo-Afghan War
Dates of operation	1879–1881
Dissolved	1881
Country	Emirate of Afghanistan
Allegiance	Mohammad Yaqub Khan
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The National Party, ^[1] sometimes known as the Ghazni Party ^[2] according to British reports, ^[3] was a significant political party and a loyalist militant organization in Afghanistan that rose throughout the Second Anglo-Afghan War in opposition to the British invasion of Afghanistan, and to restore the former deposed Emir Mohammad Yaqub Khan. Although Mohammad Musa Khan was proclaimed emir following the former's deposition, real authority was exercised de facto by leading commanders of this party. Musa Khan, being only 11 years of age, did not actively participate in governance, as his leadership decisions were effectively made by his following advisors. ^[4]

Background

Following the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War on 21 November 1879 and the natural death of former Emir Sher Ali Khan, the latter's son Mohammad Yaqub Khan was proclaimed as Emir in Kabul, and decided to initiate a peace treaty with the British to put an end to the war. However, this was later reversed following the anger of Afghan rebels who had felt that such an action brought humiliation to the country's name, ^[5] and would not accept a feudatory of the British Crown. ^[6]

Mohammad Yaqub's rebels later stormed the British residency in Kabul, killing 75 British-Indian soldiers in action. ^[7] This later angered the British, leading them to depose Mohammad Yaqub Khan, and later ultimately led to a British occupation of Kabul. ^[8]

Foundation

The National Party was then created after the deposition of Mohammad Yaqub Khan, represented by several leaders of equal status that involved rebels from different parts of Afghanistan that initiated a national uprising altogether, featuring Mohammad Musa Khan, the former's son and successor, and de jure Emir of Afghanistan, with the guidance and supervision of Din Mohammad Andar. ^[9]

Decline

Following Abdur Rahman Khan's accession to the Afghan throne and complete British withdrawal from Afghanistan by April 1881, the National Party dissolved.

References

1. Hensman, Howard (1881). The Afghan War of 1879-80. Oxford: W.H. Allen & Company.
2. Papers relating to Afghanistan, Narrative of Events in Afghanistan, 1878–1880. London: India Office Library.
3. Kakar, M. Hasan (1 May 2006). A Political and Diplomatic History of Afghanistan, 1863-1901. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN   978-90-47-40983-0.
4. Stewart, Jules (2011). On Afghanistan's Plains. The Story of Britain's Afghan Wars. London/New York: I. B. Tauris. ISBN   978-1-84885-717-9.
5. Kakar, M. Hasan (1971). Afghanistan: A Study in International Political Developments, 1880–1896. Kabul.
6. D. P. Singhal, India and Afghanistan: A Study in Diplomatic Relations, 1876-1907, New Delhi, 1982, p. 45
7. Brian, Robson (2007). The Road to Kabul: The Second Afghan War 1878–1881. Stroud: Spellmount. ISBN   978-1-86227-416-7.
8. MacGregor, Charles Metcalfe (1985). War in Afghanistan, 1879-80. Detroit: Wayne State Unversity Press. ISBN   9780814317839.
9. Stewart, Jules (2011). On Afghanistan's Plains. The Story of Britain's Afghan Wars. London. ISBN   978-1-84885-717-9.