Sir Thomas Salter Pyne CSI (1860–1921) was a British engineer based in Afghanistan.
Sir Thomas Salter Pyne CSI (1860–1921) was a British engineer based in Afghanistan.
He was born in Broseley, Shropshire, the son of John Pyne and Alice Salter. He was apprenticed to an engineer at the age of 15, becoming manager of a foundry and engineering works by 1879.
In 1883, he went out to India, where he worked for the merchant Thomas Acquin Martin for a few years. In 1887, when Martin was appointed Agent by Abdur Rahman Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, he was sent by Martin to Kabul to be Chief Engineer of Afghanistan. There, as the first European to live in Afghanistan since the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1879–81, he trained the local people to make guns, swords, ammunition, coins, soap, candles, etc. On behalf of Martin's firm, he built an arsenal, a mint and various factories and workshops, employing in total some 4,000 workers.
In 1893, he was sent to India by the Amir as a Special Ambassador, and at the conclusion of the negotiations was invested a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) and knighted [1] by the British government in recognition of his services. He was also a vital contact with the Durand Mission who were defining the borders of Afghanistan. He left the Amir's service in 1899 because of failing health and was replaced by Thomas Martin's younger brother Frank. He received a diamond inlaid watch from the Amir as a token of thanks.
He died in 1921. Sir Mortimer Durand said of him, "Pyne has gained a remarkable position in Afghanistan... The more I have to do with him, the more respect I feel for his sagacity."
Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI was Amir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Agreement with British India.
European influence in Afghanistan has been present in the country since the Victorian era, when the competing imperial powers of Britain and Russia contested for control over Afghanistan as part of the Great Game.
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan invaded British India and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 resulted in the Afghans gaining control of foreign affairs from Britain and the British recognizing the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and British India. According to British author Michael Barthorp, it was a strategic victory for the British because the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the border between Afghanistan and India, and the Afghans agreed not to foment trouble on the British side. However, Afghans who were on the British side of the border did cause concerns due to revolts.
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The following lists events that happened during 1900 in Afghanistan.
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