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Paghman Arc

After his 1927 – 1928 tour of Europe, India and Iran,King Amanullah brought in foreign experts to redesign Paghman. Paghman, a small village at the bottom of the Hindu Kush became a holiday retreat with villas and chalets as well as the summer capital.

The new royal gardens were opened to the public under the proviso -as a matter of reform- that western dress was adopted there, as in the royal residential areas of nearby Kabul.

On September 1, 1928 King Amanullah convoked the Loya Jirga to Paghman to the puzzlement of many delegates who found themselves at odds with the dress-code. On September 7, 1928 the Hazrat of Shor Bazaar -- an influential political figure in Kabul -- presented the King with a petition signed by some four hundred religious leaders opposing many of Amanullah's reforms. This action led to the arrest of the Hazrat, the execution of some of his followers and finally the rebellion of 1929 -- led at a famous stage by the Bacha-i-Saqao "Son of the Water Carrier" -- that overthrew the King (Poullada 1973).

After becoming a Mujaheddin battleground at the close of the 20th century, little remains of "Paghman Gardens" save for an Arc de Triomphe style arch. In the summer though, Paghman is popular as someplace to go for a break from the city and maybe a picnic. The locality was traditionally the family seat of the Paghman saadat most noted for its famous descendant Idries Shah (Saira Shah 2003).

• Leon B.Poullada: "Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919-1929 -King Amanullah's failure to modernize a tribal society" Cornell University Press/Ithaca and London 1973
• Saira Shah: "The Storytellers Daughter" Michael Joseph ed. 2003

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