In Fear of Bolshevik Designs The Frontier correspondent of the Calcutta "Statesman" writes: During the past few weeks several parties of Afghan merchants and traders have settled up their affairs and come into India. In order to avoid being questioned by the British posts in the Khyber they have entered this country by way of the Sissobi Pass and the Bara Valley, paying large sums of money to the Zakha Khel Afridis for a safe con-duet, The Zakha Khel, indeed, are said to have agents at Jellalabad and Dakha, touting so to speak, for custom for their road, and even promising to make it possible for wheeled traffic, This, of course, is all nonsense as the Zakhe Khel "have neither the materials nor the patience to build such a road.
Fricut from Bousueviks.
The refugees say that they are leaving' Afghanistan for two reasons, first, because they are afraid of the Bolsheviks and again, because they are afraid of civil strife. It would be an exaggeration to say that anything like a panic prevails in Kabul, but it is true that the uneasiness that has been prevalent in Herat for months past is now beginning to extend to Kabul. Travellers. from Bokhara are chiefly responsible for this. It appears that they are bringing into Afghanistan stories of great Bolshevik concentrations at Bok—hara, Merv, and Tashkent, They say that the Bolsheviks have no less than seven mobile divisions, and that Enver Pasha himself is at Merv and has been offered a command. How far this story is. true it is impossible to say Massinc ON THE Frontier.
The result of the Afghan belief in the story of the massing of Bolshevik forces on their frontier has been to cause very sharp divisions of opinion in their country. vue party, which is asserted to have great' influence at Court, is all for giving the Bolsheviks a free passage through to India and in joining them in their attack. Another party, headed by Sirdar Abdul Kadus, insists that~such a course would infallibly mean the ruin of Afghanistan, whether the Bolshe-vis gained or lost, A portion of the Army is with General Nadir Khan who favours the first party, but on the whole: the cultivating classes which, of course, form the. bulk of the Afghan people, are against any arrangement with the Bolsheviks, and declare that it is their intention to fight them the moment they cross the frontier whatever the attitude of their own Government.
In the meanwhile the Amir is wavering, leaning first to one side end then to the other according to the pressure that is put upon him." There is a report current that the Amir may at any moment abdicate, and that the only reason why he is hesitating is that he cannot make up his mind whether to surrender his poison to the Bolsheviks or to the British.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.