While Macnaghten was correct to point to religious difference as lying at the heart of Afghan objections to the new regime, and to realise that the Muslim ’ulema were fast establishing themselves as the centre of opposition to Shuja, he was wrong to interpret their objection as mere “bigotry.” The mullahs had initially been co-opted by the Anglo-Sadozai regime, which from the beginning paid salaries to those among the ’ulema who came out in support of the Shah. But the mullahs grew in time to have good reason to dislike a regime which only intermittently patronised their institutions or helped
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