Saturday August 4, 2018
Kabul (BNA) Located in the east and north-east of the country, Badakhshan with its lovely natural landscapes has been mentioned in Hudud al-Alamand itinerary of Huen Ti Xin the Chinese tourist (630BC) and Seyasat-nama of Ne“âm-al-Molk. He has also been mentioned in the historical works of Prof Dr. Yamin lecturer of Kabul University, in the book of (Saltanat-e-Eshq-e-Rahmani) of Mawlana Habiburahman Mehdi, in which Badakhshan has been called as the territory of gems and Ruby. Darwaz is a village in which Shah Abul Faiz Darwazi, the father of Mohammad Wali Khan lived. Shah Mohamood Khan Darwazi who was an important personality and at the same time uncle of Mohammad Wali Khan, was loyal to Amir Abdul Rahman Khan.
Known as Shah Mohammad Wali Darwazi, acting monarch of Shah Amanullah Ghazi and leader of all Khans, was a great political dignitary, competent and qualified diplomat and a patriotic personality. He was born in 1875 AD in Darwaz village in the house of Abdul Faize and was sent at 5 to the court of Abdu Rahman Khan. He promoted quickly as the leader of servants and slaves of the court and later as the in-charge of secret documents. Since he was a competent and honest person, Amir Abdul Rahman and then his successor Amir Habibullah Khan loved him very much. Amir Amanullah Khan sincerely respected his personality and honesty, and appreciated him. On Apr 10, 1919 Amanullah Khan was enthroned as the king of Afghanistan, he immediately appointed Mahmood Tarzi as his minister of foreign affairs who was a qualified capable and eligible patriotic dignitary and was fluent in several foreign languages. One week later, Mohammad Wali Khan was assigned as the extraordinary plenipotentiary by the young and progressive king in Europe and other countries.
Due to his particular competence and diplomatic eligibilities, Mohammad Wali Khan managed to achieve important gains during his official-political visits and established diplomatic relations with several Asian and European countries. On 4 June 1919, he visited Bukhara and held friendly meetings with authorities of Bukhara Emirate. Then he traveled to Tashkent, the capital of the then Russian Turkmenistan who was welcomed sincerely. In this visit, Zakaria Khan and Yaftali had also accompanied him. In September 1919 he travelled to Moscow by a railway where he was warmly received with plenty of results. Subsequently Moscow envoy Brawin visited Kabul who signed a friendship treaty. In Feb 1921, he visited Berlin that produced good results as subsequently a German engineer Hartel arrived in Kabul to construct a bridge on Kabul River (later known as Hartel Bridge) and Darulaman historical palace. Both sides held political- economic agreements. Later on he officially travelled to Italy and France and was warmly received by senior authorities of these two important European countries and as a result a new chapter was opened between Afghanistan and these countries and signed economic and political agreements. Afterwards he visited the USA and then UK but his visit of London was overshadowed due to lobbying of Britain.
Darwazi travelled to Iran and Turkey too. As a result of all these political activities, Darwazi learned valuable sufficient experiences and skills in the field of world and Afghanistan new diplomacy. On May 1922, due to cabinet reshuffling, Mohammad Tarzi was sacked from his job as the Afghan foreign minister and was appointed as the Afghan extraordinary plenary potentially in Paris and Mohammad Wali Khan replaced him as the foreign minister. But soon there was another cabinet reshuffling and Tarzi was appointed as minister of foreign affairs again and Darwazi was assigned as minister of defense. During king Amanullah Khan and nine month long visit of Europe, due to his patriotism, competence and qualifications, Mohammad Wali Khan Darwazi was tasked as acting minister of the monarchy. Darwazi believed and respected Amanullah Khan and has been acknowledged in our history as a big political personality.
Abdul Hadi Quraishi