ABC 116 — Pul-e Khatun

• Stewart, C.E. (1884): Report, dated 19th March 1884, (cited in: Secret. Correspondence respecting the Demarcation of the North-Western Frontier of Afghanistan from the Heri-Rud to the Oxus, Part 1 of July 29, 1884, pp. 10-11, Art. 3: “I entered very fully into the question of the frontier of Afghanistan close to the Heri-Rud, in my letter of the 1st October 1883, when I described my journey along the road surveyed for a railway by Mr. Lessar, on the eastern side of the Heri-Rud, and I there pointed out the urgent reason there was for not permitting either Persia or Russia to obtain a footing in the range of hills which end near Pul-i-Khatun, and which there forms the northern frontier of Afghanistan. Any line of frontier between Russia and Afghanistan on the Heri-Rud should be drawn a little north of Pul-i-Khatun, so as not to give the Russians the command of the roads through these hills. The country on the eastern side of the Heri-Rud, at least as far north as Pul-i-Khatun, or the Lady’s Bridge, is certainly Afghan, even according to Persian accounts. All the guard towers I saw had been built by Ameer Killitch Khan, the Wazir of Shah Zamen of Afghanistan. These towers were built about 60 years ago [1824] by the Afghans for the protection of their frontier.”
• Finn, Alexander (1884): P.S. to a letter of Consul A. Finn to Sir R. Thomson on November 8, 1884, cited in: Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Asia (5107, No. 9.), p. 17: “P.S.-9th November, 6.30 P.M. – I have only just heard here the news, with which I believe your Excellency is already acquainted, that a detachment of 150 Russian soldiers has been sent down to occupy a spot on the right bank of the Heri-Rud, opposite to Pul-i-Khatun.”
• Amir Abdur Rahman Khan: letter to General Lumsden on December 5, 1884, cited in: Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Asia (5107, No. 112.), p. 90: “A body of Russian cavalry in these days that you have come into the boundaries of Sarakhs have come to Pul-i-Khatoun, which they have considered their right. The former map is before you and your friend (myself). It is clear that Pul-i-Khatoun is inside the land assigned to Afghanistan and within the boundary of Herat, and that the Russians have no right or connection with it. Your fiend (the Ameer) does not understand how, in the face of this advance, you have not forbidden them, and under what consideration you are content with their establishment at Pul-i-Khatoun, it is clear that there is no conceivable advantage or good in it. If anything should be known to you showing that it is expedient or advantageous, please inform me, in order that I may know what it is. To-day Pul-i-Khatoun remains in their grasp; to-morrow they will enter Penjdeh to settle themselves down there. It comes to my mind that their seizure of Pul-i-Khatoun renders the business of delimitation extremely difficult, and may lead to further discussion, the disposal of which will become difficult both to me and to you. It is necessary that notice should be given to them to remove from there, in order that the negotiations for delimitation should be resumed as agreed upon, and be prosecuted satisfactorily. Please to answer quickly.”
• Lumsden, P.: letter to the Ameer of Afghanistan on December 19, 1884, cited in: Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Asia (5107, No. 112.), pp. 90-91: “I have received your Highness’ letter of the 5th December, regarding the advance of Russian troops to the neighbourhood of Pul-i-Khatoun, and I fully understand and sympathize with your Highness’ dissatisfaction at what I believe to have been the unauthorized action of the local officials of the Russian Government. But I must remind your Highness that the advance was made before my arrival at Sarakhs, and that when I was informed of it I immediately protested against it to General Komaroff and also reported the matter to Her Majesty’s Government. […] I must now, however, remind your Highness that this complication would not have arisen had your Highness beforehand occupied Pul-i-Khatoun with your troops, as you so wisely occupied Penjdeh and other places in accordance with the advice given in the Viceroy’s letter of the 11th March, 1884, to your Highness’ address.”
• The Illustrated London News, Vol. 86 (1885/1), March 7, p. 251: engraving of the Kushk valley and the Pul-i-Khatun bridge; March 14, p. 202: “‘The camp’ says Mr. Simpson, ‘is on the right bank of the Hari-Rud, just below the bridge, and is composed of about a dozen reed huts; at the time of my visit, there might be about fifty or sixty men, perhaps half a sotnia. Pul-i-Khatun is very nearly forty miles south of Sarakhs and its all that distance nearer to Herat. […] Pul is the ordinary Persian word for bridge, and khatun means lady; hence the name, translated into English, is The Lady Bridge. It is built of brick, and has been a sustained structure. The central arch was destroyed about sixty years ago in some frontier war.’ […]”
• Holdich, T.H. (1885): Afghan Boundary Commission; Geographical Notes, p. 277: “The striking similarity in the appearance of this bridge [the bridge in Tirpul] with a sketch of the bridge of Pul-i-Khatun which was taken by Mr. Simpson, the special artist of the Illustrated London News, suggests that both were constructed by the same engineer.”
• Simpson, W. (1886): With the Afghan Boundary Commission, by William Simpson, p. 602: “On leaving Sarakhs we moved south along the western bank of the Hari-Rud, which brought us to Pul-i-Khatun. […] It is supposed that the bridge at this place is as old as the period of Timour, and that it was built by one of the ladies of his family; it is constructed of brick, with six arches, and although much decayed, it would be still serviceable if the central arch were not broken.”
• Moser, H. (1888): Durch Central-Asien, photograph f.p. 328: “Brücke über den Tedjent bei Pul y Chatun.”
• Adamec, L.W. (1981): Meshed and northeastern Iran, pp. 548-549: Pul-i-Khatun, “A village and an old stone bridge passable for all arms over the Hari Rud river about 94 miles from Meshed, on the frontier line of Persia and Afghanistan [sic!]. […] The Russian Cantonment at Pul-i-Khatun consists of two small one-storeyed barracks, one for the Cossacks and one for the Frontier Guards. They did not seem capable of accommodating more than 100 men each at the most. The Cossack horses are under a rough shed of poles with a thatched roof. The rest of the buildings seemed like officers’ quarters and officers on a very shabby scale.”
• McChesney, R.D. (Ed., 2013) : The history of Afghanistan:Fayz Muhammad Katib Hazarah’s “Siraj al-tawarikh”, Vol. 3-1, pp. 139-140: discussion on Pul-e Khatun; p. 144: Amir Abdur Rahman Khan’s view of the importance of Pul-e Khatun; p. 147: “The tower at Pul-i Khatun was built by Qilich Khan Timuri who was a servant and official of the government of Herat. I met him while he was still alive. Since the Timuri people paid and still pay their customs duties and land taxes to Herat, during the reign of Shah Mahmud [1810-1818], the son of Timur Shah Saduza’i, this same Qilich Khan held the reins of government service and was in charge of patrolling the border. […]“

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