The ‘Experts’ from Afghanistan
Britain’s dearth of Afghan informants provided an opportunity for a disinherited Indian prince and his son to present themselves as an authentic conduit to the Muslim world. Soon they were advising the nation on subjects from geopolitics to the powers of the occult.
In early February 1919 Britain’s wartime prime minister David Lloyd George perused an intriguing letter addressed to him personally by an Afghan residing in Edinburgh. The mysterious correspondent introduced himself as an aristocrat from the outskirts of Kabul by the name of Ikbal Ali Shah. His family had long supported Britain, he continued, and, being fluent in four Muslim languages, he had uncovered Germany’s secret designs in Central Asia. But now the war was over, he went on, it was the Bolsheviks who should be Britain’s biggest concern. On the Afghan border with India – that most vulnerable corner of the empire – Russian Bolsheviks were plotting to export their revolution through the Khyber Pass. Having waved this warning flag, Ikbal Ali Shah came to the purpose of his letter: to offer the prime minister his ‘humble services in connection with propaganda work’.
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