At his demise the numbers of the forces available were considerably below the million standard. At that time the peace strength of the regular army was estimated at 150,000 men, distributed between the military centres of Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jelalabad, Asmai, the region of the Upper Oxus, and in detachments on frontier duty along the Russo-Afghan, Perso-Afghan and Indo-Afghan boundaries. This force was composed as follows: _Numbers._ _Average._ _Total._ 80 Regiments of Infantry 700 56,000 40 Regiments of Cavalry 400 16,000 100 Batteries ⎨ 6 guns⎬ 10,000 ⎩100 men⎭ Royal Bodyguard: 4 Regiments of Infantry 1,000 4,000 3 Regiments of Cavalry 800 2,400 Supplementary: Police 30,000 Permanent Tribal Auxiliaries: Unmounted 20,000⎬ 30,000 Mounted 10,000⎭ The many flaws in the system which Abdur Rahman had created were emphasised at his death, in part by the indifference of Habib Ullah to matters military, but in the main by organic difficulties emanating from reactionary influences in the environment of the throne. Broadly speaking, the army and administration of Afghanistan were too centralised to be continuous unless the reins of government had passed into the hands of a man as fearless and able as Abdur Rahman was. Habib Ullah is a man of different mould; and as a consequence on the death of Abdur Rahman the absolutism of his rule suffered material contraction. It is to be regretted that the late Amir, while evolving out of a heterogeneous collection of warring tribes a settled and independent country, failed to bequeath to his son any portion of his own singular abilities. As a consequence, the order of government in Kabul is neither so unquestioned nor substantial as it was, for the men whose services assisted Abdur Rahman to effect his life’s work have dropped out--from death or through inability to serve Habib Ullah. Faults, inherent in the character of the Afghans and particularly prominent in the present Amir, have thus measured the success which befel Abdur Rahman by the span of that ruler’s life, until it is really but little more than the shell of the former edifice which now remains. [Illustration: PATROL OF HOUSEHOLD TROOPS]