RESEARCHES OF RUSSIAN MILITARY ORIENTALISTS ABOUT THE POPULATION OF AFGHANISTAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Аннотация

INTRODUCTION researchers is still considered invaluable. The study of the territory of Afghanistan in Russia is rooted in the distant past. The study of this DISCUSSION AND RESULTS territory has been especially intensified since the In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian 19th century. During this period, like Great Britain, Empire actively pursued a policy of aggression in Russia, based on its political goals, tried to Central Asia, and after subjugating the Uzbek comprehensively explore the territory of khanates and Turkmen tribes in the 1960s and Afghanistan and did not spare forces and means for 1970s, the need to define the borders of the empire this. The main goal of almost all expeditions to with neighboring countries and divide the spheres Afghanistan was to study these territories from a of influence with Great Britain came to the fore. In geopolitical point of view, so mainly military the 80s of the 19th century, the "Pamir border" orientalists worked there. Nevertheless, the issue appeared in Russian foreign policy in order information they collected aroused great interest to determine the borders of the Russian Empire from a historical point of view. In particular, with Great Britain and Afghanistan. As a result, information on the geographical position of valuable information about the people living in Afghanistan, customs, lifestyle, diversity of Afghanistan was collected as a result of the nationalities, social conditions obtained by Russian research conducted by Russian researchers in https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajssei 166 THE USA JOURNALS THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND EDUCATION INNOVATIONS (ISSN- 2689-100X) VOLUME 06 ISSUE08 Afghanistan. and they lived mainly in the area from Kabul to Kallat. According to A.E. Snesarev, Afghans are divided into three groups. In particular, a slightly larger Many travelers have described the appearance group is the Kers, which consists of 128 clans. This and character of the Afghan people. In particular, group includes Afrid, Orakzai, Atmanzai, Hatak, A.E. Snesarev, as a result of his many observations, Wazir and other tribes. These tribes lived in the describes the Afghans as "a people whose passion northern part of the Solomon mountain range from is hot, but gets hot in an instant, self-sufficient, the Gomala river to the Peshawar valley, as well as capable of any kind of work, lives with hope, but in the foothills of the Khyber and Gomul passes quickly becomes disillusioned." In addition, the that connect Afghanistan with India. The tribes scientist, while thinking about their appearance, belonging to this group are mountain peoples, and acknowledges that they are "tall, strong, many tourists say that they belong to the purest handsome, with pointed noses, wide cheeks, race ethnographically, and the main features of the wheat-colored, among them there are sometimes Afghan race are clearly reflected in them. Kers also black ones, with bald heads and hair growing lived in small villages and were mainly nomadic. up to their shoulders". Small tribal communities were governed by B. L. Tageev, speaking about the Afghans, jirgas[1.113]. described them: "Afghans have long mustaches, A.E. Snesarev ethnographically notes that the come from Karacha, have dark curly hair, wear thin remaining two groups of Afghans "separated from and white turbans, grow long beards, keep their the Ker group at different times, moved to other bodies upright like soldiers, from their lineage regions and settled in new places as independent proud people," he says[3. 140]. tribes, their original origin goes back to the Ker"[2. Many researchers, most of whom are military 115]. orientalists, have described the specific features of The second group of Afghans were the tribes called the national character of Afghans. For example, Gurgusht, who lived in the area from the Colonel Grodekov said, "Afghans as a people are southwestern part of the Solomon Mountains to hard-tempered, cold-hearted, demanding, brave, the borders of Baluchistan, and were headed by the and fighters. The highlanders living in the country Kakar tribe. According to the researcher, the call themselves Afghans and are proud of it. At the Hurghush tribes originated from the interbreeding same time, to find out to which clan a person of the Baluch and the Ker[3.60]. belongs, you can find out about it not only from him, but from another stranger. It shows how The third group of Afghans is a union of Sarban mature Afghans are in terms of intelligence, insight tribes, which include the Durrani (Abdol) and and respect for each other[4. 100]. Yusufzai tribes. They lived in the southern and southwestern basin of the Helmand River, from B. L. Tageev says about the specific characteristics Kandahar to Herat. The Barakzai clan emerged of Afghans: "Afghans are sharply different from the separately from the Durrani (Abdol) tribe, and surrounding eastern peoples in terms of their they stood out