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PREFACE
Very little is written on the Afghans and their past history, and whatever literature is available in this connection is supplied mostly by foreigners and interested persons. This lack of adequate material has led some people believe that the country had no political entity in the past and came into existence only recently. It was, therefore, thought necessary to write a complete history of the country from the earliest times to the present age.
For the sake of convenience it is divided into four parts. The first covers the early period, from the dawn of history down to the invasion of the Arabs. The second is to deal with the medieval period, that is from the tenth century onwards to the close of the 17th. The third is to cover mostly the eighteenth century until the collapse of the Durrani dynasty in the early part of the 19th century. The fourth and the last part is to be exclusively the history of the Mohammedzais, the present ruling family of Afghanistan.
Of these only the first part came out in the beginning of the last year under the title of
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.