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promises of rewards, and some were forced to
sign bond of allegiance, yet there were men
like Sayed Ahmad Khan and Mohammad
Gul Khan, the present Home Minister, who
were bold enough to refuse homage [بیعت] and
to argue that this was not the time for
self-approval but for action and that the
first duty of every Afghan at this juncture
was to fight the Bacha, the common enemy
of the nation, and to bring about his
downfall. When this was accomplished
it would then be time to invite represen-
tatives from all parts of the country to a
Grand Assembly and choose their king.
They pointed out that any other course
would perpetuate civil war and ultimately
ruin the whole nation. But Ali Ahmad Jan,
who was too ambitious to listen to reason
or friendly advice, punished and otherwise
disgraced the dissenters, and thus silenced
his opponents.
Having won over in this way a large
number of men to his side, his next
objective was Kabul; for he knew that the
fall of Kabul meant easy success in other
parts of the country. But he wasted a
good deal of time in getting under way,
53
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.