[Extract …] Nineteenth century expansionist ambitions of the Czarist Russians in Central Asia and the British in India twice brought British armies onto Afghan soil, in 1839-1842 and 1878-1880. Afghanistan was never colonised, but after the second incursion the British in India retained control over Afghan foreign affairs. For his part, Amir Abdur Rahman, who came to the throne in 1880 as the British armies departed, solidified his boundaries and began to unify the diverse, often openly antagonistic, peoples within these boundaries under his autocratic rule. Beyond them, he kept a wary eye upon his neighbours whose machinations continued to fester. To prevent either from infecting his sensitive internal affairs, the Amir restricted entrance of foreigners to those receiving his personal ihvitation and stringently regulated the introduction of all external influences; by the end of the 19th century outsiders dubbed Afghanistan a hermit nation. Yet Amir Abdur Rahman was astute enough to realise that in order to maintain independence he must gain the respect of his contending neighbours. Programmes affecting all facets of the nation's development were judiciously initiated according to the Amir's intelligent, albeit dogmatic, personal dictates and prejudices. Architecture received special attention, for the Amir was intensely interested, and highly articulate, in this field. 1 In this he differed from most of his predecessors who, with few exceptions, evidenced little interest in the subject. In fact, although the Afghan landscape is liberally dotted with architectural ruins epitomising periods of high artistic intensity, they largely represent the creative inspiration of such non-Afghan Islamic dynasties as the Samanids (9th c. AD), Ghaznavids (10-12th), and Timurids (15th), all of whom originated in Central Asia. Even the Moghuls ( 16-17th) were from Central Asia, although they developed their eclectic style in India. With the establishment of the first Afghan Empire by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, large-scale monu. mental building projects ceased in Afghanistan, partly because political unrest precluded the building of grandiose structures, but also in good part because of an innate dislike of ostentatious dis pi ay which is very much part of the Afghan character. In 1880, therefore, both public and domestic architecture exhibited the same forms for rich and poor alike. Even the capital city of Kabul could boast of not a single prepossessing building.