"Am I not a Puktan?"

The Afghan people, occupied with the defence of their homes, have
failed to assist the Ameer in the formation and maintenance of that
indispensable instrument--an organized, well-equipped, easily
mobilized army. In regular battle the Afghans can have but little
hope of success; their strength lies in the petty warfare peculiar
to a wild, mountainous country. As auxiliaries, as partisan troops
in their own country, they would be of great value to their allies
and extremely troublesome to their enemies. For outpost, courier,
and scouting purposes, they would doubtless be most efficient. The
strength of the organized army in the service of the Ameer of
Afghanistan is about 50,000 men of all arms. The traveller Vambery,
who visited Herat in 1863, says:

"The Afghan's national costume consists of a long shirt, drawers,
and dirty linen clothes; or, if he is a soldier, he affects a
British red coat. He throws it over his shirt, while he gets on his
head the picturesque Indo-Afghan turban. Others again--and these are
the _beau-monde_--are wont to assume a half-Persian costume. Weapons
are borne by all. Rarely does any one, whether civil or military,
enter the bazar without his sword and shield. To be quite _a la
mode_ one must carry about one quite an arsenal, consisting of two
pistols, a sword, poniard, hand-jar, gun, and shield." M. Vambery
also describes a drill of some Afghan regulars.

"The men had a very military bearing, far better than the Ottoman
army that was so drilled forty years ago. These might have been
mistaken for European troops if most of them had not had on their
bare feet the pointed Kabuli shoe, and had not had their short