In order to placate the Shinwaris, Amanullah issues a proclamation cancelling most of his reforms, such as the education of women, and the introduction of conscription and European dress, and also promises to appoint a council, including clergy, nobles, and officials, to assist him in revising the law, and in reviewing the decisions of the popular assembly.

When Bacha-i-Saqao resumes the offensive on January 9 Amanullah is able, with the help of Russian airmen, to ward off his attacks, but the Shinwaris clamour for further concessions, and in fact seem determined upon his dethronement.

Feeling himself powerless to resist them, Amanullah, on January 14, abdicates in favour of his elder brother, Inayatullah Khan, who for the previous ten years had lived a private life.

Though up to this point foreigners in Kabul have not been molested, nor is there any sign of an anti-foreign movement there, the Indian government, mistrusting the ability of the new ruler to keep order, decides to advise all British subjects to leave the city, and to place aeroplanes at their disposal for doing so.

Within two months the British aeroplanes have brought from Kabul to Peshawar some 600 people in seventy-two flights, without casualties and almost without mishaps - a remarkable achievement considering the height of the mountain ranges which had to be crossed and the intense cold.

The Shinwari and other tribes of the neighbourhood being no more disposed to accept the rule of Ali Ahmad Khan (who had declared himself amir at Jalalabad when Habibullah entered Kabul) than that of Amanullah, they inflict a severe defeat on him at Jagdalak.

He shows little confidence in himself and at one time seriously thinks of withdrawing to Herat, and only desists in deference to the protests of the townsmen of Kandahar, who point out that such a step would involve them in heavy loss.

Shah Nadir Khan, a member of the royal family who was living in retirement in the Riviera and who watched the disruption of the country and its gradual relapse into anarchy with deep concern, returns to Afghanistan.

In 1925, not being able to agree with King Amanullah, he had gone as Afghan minister to France, but after holding that post for two years he had resigned and gone to live in the Riviera for the benefit of his health.

He reached Peshawar on February 25 - the same day as Sir Francis Humphrys - and on March 6, in company with one of his brothers, Sardar Shah Wali Khan, crosses the frontier.

He writes him a letter telling him that he made a mistake in declaring himself king, as he had no qualifications for such a position, and inviting him to call a conference for the purpose of selecting a ruler, adding that, if he refused to cooperate, he (Nadir Khan) would use his influence with the tribesmen against him.

Shortly afterwards, Nadir sends another letter to Habibullah couched in most conciliatory terms, and assuring him that if he abdicated in favour of Amanullah, or any other member of the royal family, he would receive a full and honourable pardon.

At the end of May Habibullah's troops occupy Kandahar without opposition, and capture the amir Ali Ahmad Khan, who is sent to Kabul as a prisoner and executed there in July.

After his defeat, Nadir Khan is left utterly without resources; nevertheless he remains Habibullah's most formidable opponent on account of his influence with the tribes and the loyal cooperation of his brothers.

Nadir Khan succeeds in obtaining the support of an important jirga of tribes convened by the Hazrat Sahib of Shor Bazar, an influential religious leader, at Shishrak, not far from Gardez.

The amir just made his peace with the Hazaras, on the west of Kabul, who had long been a thorn in his side, and is thus able to spare more men for the campaign against Nadir Khan, and so to neutralize his success.

On October 19 he sends a message to Europe through a newspaper correspondent that he hopes to lead Afghanistan along the path of progress and to make it an independent and civilized state, to reopen the schools, and to build up roads, railways, and industries.

At the end of November he issues a proclamation summing up his policy in ten points which include the maintenance of Islamic law as the basis of administration, the total prohibition of alcoholic liquor, the establishment of a military school and an arsenal for manufacturing modern arms, the continuance of King Amanullah's relations with foreign powers, a progressive educational policy, and the continuance of the old Council of State.