AFGHANISTAN: French-Fried General

Bearded Afghans moved mum as ghosts about Kabul last week, afraid of losing their ears, anxious not to be blown into bloody fragments from a cannon mouth. Their bandit-king, fierce, white-toothed, grinning Habibullah Khan, was in one of his wild rages. For weeks he has been stubbornly defending Kabul against the potent Nadir Khan, another ruthless seeker of the crown lost last winter by deposed King Amanullah, who is now in bitter exile in Italy (TIME, July 15). Last week Habibullah heard that one of his favorite generals had just been captured...

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