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ATATÜRK’S REFORMS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE MUSLIM WORLD 531
had an enlightened upbringing in Asia Minor, to launch exclusive
journals for the enlightenment of women and encouraged the press
generally. 37 As for the public works, Amanullah regulated the health
services and improved hygiene and sanitation. He also developed
communications by building roads and expanding telephone and
telegraph systems. To improve legal-administrative set-up he tried
to inculcate efficiency and eradicate corruption. 38 In economy he
regulated and strengthened trade and commerce which were the
mainstay of the Afghan financial system. Otherwise, there was
no industrial base and little headway was made in that direction.
The widespread corruption was the major impediment to any
improvement. The one particular sphere that received priority was
the reorganization of the army and this was done entirely along
Turkish and German models. Even in uniform the Afghans imitated
some of the items worn by Turkish soldiers such as the astrakhan cap
and cavalry boots. 39 This, however, does not mean that Amanullah
had been able to change Afghanistan overnight or that it had become
modernized and forward looking. Far from that Afghanistan was
still a medieval state and a very conservative society. And though
the reforms were coherent and integrated only the upper crust was
modernized; deep down it was still tribal and traditional.
The second phase of Amanullah’s reforms (1927-9) was more
drastic and more controversial than the first one and came in the
wake of his seven-month long grand tour of India, Europe and the
Middle East. The idea was to have a first-hand knowledge of the
civilizations abroad, especially in Europe. Even before embarking
on his tour, he had ordered from Europe the latest in fashion that he
and his ladies would wear during their European odyssey. 40 Between
December 1927 and July 1928, he visited no less than a dozen
countries where the king, the queen, and their small party were
given a right royal reception that turned Afghanistan into ‘a three-
37
Abdul Ghani, A Brief Political History of Afghanistan, (ed.), Abdul Jaleel
Najfi (Lahore, 1989), 666-9.
Gregorian, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 240-4.
38 Ibid., 244-52.
39 Ibid., 252-4; and Abdul Ghani, A Brief Political History of Afghanistan, 676.
40 Ibid., 671.