particular horror was caused when the British “went so far as to usurp control of the endowments of the great Sufi shrine of Ashiqan wa Arifan, which had been registered from the days of bygone rulers.” This was an especially tactless move as the shrine, formerly a Buddhist monastery, was Old Kabul’s most important and ancient cult centre, and for several generations had been the burial place of the Barakzais.
