The. Afghan. delegates at Rawal Pindi -on Friday week signed
a Treaty of Peace. The terms are none too severe in view of the young Amies reckless folly in declaring war without any provocation. He loses the subsidy paid by India to his father and,grandfather ; the late Amir, it is said,•had left in the Indian Treasury about a million pounds on this account, and thamoney is now forfeited. The Amir also loses the privilege of importing munitionathrough India. He agrees to accept the frontier-line west of the Khyber which is to be determined by a British
Commission. The British Government, on the other hand, will take the Afghans into favour and receive an Afghan Mission six months hence if they " prove their sincerity by acts and conduct." There is, of course, no question of diminishing the independence .of Afghanistan. For forty years we have sought to preserve the little mountain State from external aggression, and this wise policy will be continued unless the Afghans make it impossible. Meanwhile it would be premature to assume that the signing of the Treaty will bring peace to the troubled North-West Frontier, for Afghanistan itself is in a state of unrest, owing to Turkish and Bolshevik intrigues.
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