Jalalabad

“ By this time the army had settled down to the quiet life of cantonments, and Lady Sale and her daughter came to Kabul. But the policy of the Indian government in stopping the subsidy to the frontier tribes roused them into hostility, and Sale's brigade received orders to clear the line of communication to Peshawar. After severe fighting Sale entered Jalalabad on the 12th of November 1841. Ten days previously he had received news of the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes, along with orders to return with all speed to Kabul. ”

“ Mendrawur is about 11 kilometers south of the provincial capital of Mehtar Lam and about five kilometers north of the Kabul-Jalalabad highway. We received information that an armored columnwould be moving from Jalalabad to Mehtar Lam toward the end of August 1981 (Map 5-1 - Mehtar) . ”

“ Westayed in Sorubay overnight. The enemy responded by sending forces from Jalalabad. Heavyenemy artillery fire began to fall on the OPs located on the highground. Aircraft hit us as enemy armored vehicles neared the districtcenter. We could not hold the district center against the air andartillery and so we vacated the place. During this fighting, we lostmany people. I lost another seven KIA in my group. ”

“ VIGNETTE 7 RAID ON MAHIPAR OUTPOSTSby Commander Wazir Gul In July 1984 three groups of Mujahideen combined to raidSoviet/DRA security outposts on the main Kabul-Jalalabad highway. (Map 2-6 - Mahipar) Highway 1 at Mahipar passes through a deep gorge, with the river flowing immediately to the north of the road and with a steep ridge rising on the south. Other than the highway, the main access to Mahipar is through Mulla Omar Dara, a mountain valley connecting Mulla Omar Village with Highway 1. At that time, the DRA had a militia unit headquartered at Mulla Omar. ”

“ Population 2,466, all of whom are Hindus. Latitude 26°56' ; longitude 80'34', JALALABAD.Pargana MALLÁNWÁN—Tahsil BILGRAM-District HAR- DOI.- Population 2,051 (mostly Kanaujia Brahmans) . A small town of 363 mud houses, 6 miles south-east from Mallán wán, in district Hardoi. A market is held on Tuesdays and Saturdays at Sultanganj, a Pathán hamlet demarcated with Jalálabad. The proprietors are Kurmis, whose ancestor Zálim Singh gained it for good service many generations ago. ”

“ Broadfoot, the acting engineer, laid before Sale the condition of Jalalabad, and advised him, if he thought he could not hold out, to march that night for Peshawar while retreat was possible.
On 23 Jan. came news of Colonel Wild's attempt to force the Khaibar and the abandonment of Ali Masjid. Every precaution was taken by Sale and the Jalalabad garrison to enable them to fight to the last, and they prepared for the worst. On 26 Jan., however, Macgregor received a letter from Shah Shuja referring to the treaty, and asking Sale's intentions in remaining in Jalalabad. ”

“ The Soviet forces concentrated in Jalalabad in May 1980. We weretipped off that the Soviets planned to advance along the two roads,destroying Mujahideen bases as they went. Their southern columnwould swing north at Fatehabad to seal the pocket. I left my base atChaharbagh and went to my village at Bazetkhel, where I had 80 men.I took 50 of these men north into a Tor Ghar mountain canyon. Weintended to stop the Soviet column on the northern route before theyreached the main Mujahideen base at Katapur. We also hoped to buyenough time to allow the civilians to escape into the mountains. ”

“ The Mujahideen needed to get security out to the key terrain dominating the village to provide timely warning. When the Soviets and DRA had timely intelligence, they were often able to surround sleeping Mujahideen whose guards were within yards of the sleepers. The Soviet forces were probably from the 66th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade in Jalalabad—some 40 kilometers away. The DRA force was probably from the 71st Infantry Regiment—garrisoned only seven kilometers away in Mehtar Lam. The area is open and easily accessible by road. ”

“ During the first Afghan war he was present as aide-de-camp to Sir Willoughby Cotton at the capture of Ghazni, on the 23rd of July 1839, and at the occupation of Kabul. After a short absence in Bengal to secure the publication of his Memoirs of the Afghan Campaign, he returned to Kabul in charge of recruits, and became interpreter to General Elphinstone. In 1840, being attached to Sir Robert Sale’s force, he took part in the Khurd-Kabul fight, in the celebrated passage of the defiles of the Ghilzais (1841) and in the fighting from Tezeen to Jalalabad. ”

“ Accordingly, I telegraphed to General Bright to send on Charles Gough's brigade, and I directed the detachment at Butkhak to return to Kabul, and that at Seh Baba to fall back on Lataband. Having great confidence in its Commander, Colonel Hudson, I determined to hold on to Lataband for a time, though by so doing the numbers I might otherwise have had at Sherpur were considerably diminished. Lataband was the most important link in the chain of communication between Kabul and Jalalabad; it was in direct heliographic connexion with Kabul ”

“ The head is round; the skin varies from olive-brown to dark copper; the face is flat and the lower jaw square. The nose is thick and short, with wide, open nostrils. The cheekbones are high and well marked. The hair has a blue-black tint, eyes are black and the beard is scanty. The Jakuns live a wild forest life, and in general habits much resemble the Sakai, being but little in advance of the latter in social conditions except where they come into close contact with the Malay peoples.
JALALABAD, or Jellalabad, a town and province of Afghanistan. The town lies at a height of 1950 ft. ”

“ General Elphinstone, who was left in command of the English troops, being in feeble health, attempted to leave the country with his 4,500 troops and three times that number of camp followers. On the 11th of March, 1842, Akbar Khan with a large army attacked General Sale at Jellalabad.
Jellalabad is a walled town on the right bank of the Cabul River. The upper end of the valley is very fertile and picturesque, studded with forts and villages, but all round the city it is sandy and arid. Snow mountains close in the valley on all sides. ”

“ Wherever it can be irrigated from the Kabul river it is delightfully fertile, but everywhere else it is hot barren desert. The climate of Jelalabad is much more tropical than that of Kabul—more resembling the climate of Central India; and in the winter the nomadic Afghans of the hills in the Kabul province pack their belongings on donkeys or bullocks, and with their whole families move down to Jelalabad, so that the winter population of the town is enormously greater than that of the summer. ”

“ So far as I could see there was but one place to which the phrase used by the Sheikh Al-Abbas could be applied. That was a few miles to the east of Jelalabad, where the Chitral and Kabul rivers mingle together and flow down to the great lakes.
"I made my way up to Peshawar, and in the disguise of an Afghan hillman crossed the border. At Lalpura I fell in with a travelling merchant, who was in much fear of being waylaid by robbers. 'Two,' said he, 'are better company than one.' And together we set out on the road to Jelalabad. ”

“ The Palace was semi-European in its internal decoration. It was unfinished at this time. There was a large central hall with a domed roof, and smaller rooms at the side: a separate enclosure was built for the ladies of the harem: near by were kitchens, rooms for the Afghan bath, and a Guest house or pavilion in a garden of its own.
Jelalabad.
The town of Jelalabad is between ninety and a hundred miles from the Indian frontier town Peshawur, and contains, in the summer, a population of from three to four thousand inhabitants. There is one chief bazaar or street with shops. ”

“ The shorter marches are over bad mountain tracts, which tire the horses quite as much as a longer journey over fairly level country. The sixth day’s journey to Jelalabad is over ground which slopes down gradually from the foot hills, but almost the whole of it is through sand mixed with small stones in which the horses’ feet sink deeply, and makes the going hard and tiring. ”

“ Jelalabad stands on the Kabul River, about half-way between Kabul and the Khaiber Pass. It was the scene of the stubborn defence by Sir Robert Sale in 1842, referred to elsewhere. It has a floating population of about three thousand souls. Our engraving is taken from the south and west. The stream in the west is the Kabul River. The Jati gate in the south wall is the exit from the Hindu quarter. The Kabul exit is on the west, while the road to Peshawur commences at the gate of that name on the east wall of the city. ”

“ Ismailians to follow his example. Belief seems to have been given to these assurances, for when his wife and mother went on a pilgrimage to Mecca they were received with distinction at Bagdad and the party of pilgrims who marched under the banner of the Alamut ruler preceded all others. He lived only twelve years after coming to the throne but during those years he built mosques, established schools and called in learned men to teach his people the true faith. Some historians consider Jelal ud din a shrewd politician rather than a reformer and assert that he remained an apostle of atheism. ”

“ South of the Yarmuk the black basalt of the Jaulan yields to the light limestone of the west-Jordan. The entire territory of Gilead more closely resembles the western hills of Palestine than does any other part of the east-Jordan region. On the broad rolling uplands of eastern Gilead there are large [59] grain fields and the soil is cultivated at many other points. In the Roman period great cities, of which Gerasa (44) was the chief, testified to the rich productivity of this region, but for the most part it is the paradise of the herdsmen and the shepherd. ”

“ You, members of the congregation of Lünel and of the neighboring towns, are the only ones who raise aloft the banner of Moses. You apply yourselves to the study of the Talmud, and also cherish wisdom. But in the East the Jews are dead to spiritual labors. In the whole of Syria only a few in Haleb occupy themselves with the study of the Torah, but even they have it not much at heart. In Irak there are only two or three grapes (men of insight) ; in Yemen and the rest of Arabia they know little of the Talmud, and are acquainted only with the Agadic exposition. ”

“ When Jaland heard these words he raged and revolted and said, “By the virtue of the Sun, Lord of Life and Light, I will not leave one of thy brother’s folk in existence! But where didst thou quit them and how many men are they?” Answered Ajib, “I left them in Cufa and they be fifty thousand horse.” Whereupon Jaland called his Wazir Jawámard, [13] saying, “Take thee seventy thousand horse and fare to Cufa and bring me the Moslems alive, that I may torture them with all manner of tortures.” ”

“ Another Jewish family—the Benu-Kainukaa—were established in northern Arabia, and their mode of living was different from that of the Nadhir and Kuraiza. These tribes had their center in the city of Yathrib, which was situated in a fruitful district, planted with palms and rice, and watered by small streams. As the Jews were often molested by Bedouins, they built castles on the elevated places in the city and the surrounding country, whereby they guarded their independence. ”

“ The mountains on the eastern side of the Jordan are more lofty than those which skirt the Vale of Jericho, being not less than 2000 feet in height. From the summit of a towering peak, which the traveller still delights to recognise, Moses was permitted to behold the promised inheritance, stretching towards the west, the south, and the north,—"All the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar. ”

“ When the valley of Kabul has been left behind the country appears very desolate, for there is nothing but mountains, rocks, and sand to be seen. The second day’s journey takes one over the Latabund Pass which lies at a considerable altitude above Kabul, which is itself seven thousand feet above sea-level, and the rest of the journey until Jelalabad is reached is all over mountains. Camp for the night is pitched near small villages set in valleys where a little water makes the cultivation of a few patches of sandy soil possible. ”

“ Every night thou releasest them from their cages And settest them free: none is master or slave. At night the prisoners forget their prisons, At night the monarchs forget their wealth: No sorrow, no care, no profit, no loss, No thought or fear of this man or that. Such is the state of the Sufi in this world, Like the seven sleepers58 he sleeps open-eyed, Dead to worldly affairs, day and night, Like a pen held in the hand of his Lord.— (Professor Cowell.)
As we have seen, Jalaluddin's conception of God is a far higher one than is embodied in the orthodox formula of the Koran, "Say: God is One. ”

“ You have climbed the Ḥijáz—the ‘barrier’—and are come to the steppes of the Nejd—the ‘highland.’ In the valleys of this barrier-land are the Holy Cities, Mekka and Medina. Here is the birthplace of Islám: the Arab tribes of the Ḥijáz and the Nejd were the first disciples of Moḥammad.
One may tell much of a people’s character from its [Pg xiii] home. Truism as it seems, there is yet a meaning in the saying that the Arabs are peculiarly the people of Arabia. Those who have travelled in this wonderful land tell us of the quickening influence of the air and scene of the desert. ”