Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Afghanistan, rooted in the Great Game rivalry between Britain and Russia. Its outcome established the framework for Afghan foreign policy that persisted until 1919, when Afghanistan won full control of its external relations.[1][2]
Causes
Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain feared Russian expansion toward India. In 1876, the Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan received a Russian diplomatic mission in Kabul. Sher Ali was the son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Barakzai dynasty, who had ruled Afghanistan for thirty-six years. When Sher Ali refused to accept a British envoy in August 1878, Viceroy Lord Lytton issued an ultimatum. The British mission was turned back at the Khyber Pass on 21 September 1878. On 19 November, Lytton declared war.[1][2]
Military campaign
Three British columns — totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men — invaded from different directions: through the Bolan Pass (seizing Kandahar), through the Khyber (Ali Masjid), and via the Kurram Valley. At the Battle of Peiwar Kotal, Major-General Frederick Roberts outflanked 18,000 Afghan defenders. Sher Ali fled Kabul seeking Russian aid and died near Balkh in February 1879.[1][2][3]
The British installed Sher Ali's cousin, Muhammad Yaqub Khan, as Amir in May 1879. Yaqub was coerced into signing the Treaty of Gandamak, which ceded the Khyber Pass, Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi districts to Britain and allowed a British Resident in Kabul. The treaty was denounced across Afghanistan as a national humiliation.[4][5]
Renewed war
On 3 September 1879, Afghan soldiers from Herat stormed the British Residency in Kabul, killing Sir Louis Cavagnari and all 200 occupants. This reignited the conflict. Yaqub Khan abdicated and was exiled to India. General Roberts recaptured Kabul after defeating Afghans at Charasiab on 6 October 1879 and survived the Siege of Sherpur in December 1879, where 2,200 British troops held off 30,000 attackers.[1][2]
Battle of Maiwand
On 27 July 1880, Ayub Khan (governor of Herat and son of Sher Ali) marched on Kandahar with approximately 25,000 troops. Brigadier-General Burrows's force of 2,476 British and Indian troops was overwhelmed. British losses: 970 killed, 37 percent of the force. The 66th Foot made a famous last stand — eleven men charged out of a garden and perished. This was one of Britain's worst defeats in the region, made legendary by the role of Malalai of Maiwand in rallying Afghan fighters.[1][6]
Battle of Kandahar
On 1 September 1880, Roberts marched 505 kilometres from Kabul in twenty days with 10,000 men, arriving at Kandahar. He decisively defeated Ayub Khan, ending the siege and the war. Ayub Khan fled into Persia.[1][3]
Aftermath and the rise of Abdur Rahman
With the British withdrawal underway, a power struggle ensued among Afghan claimants. Abdur Rahman Khan, grandson of Dost Muhammad Khan, emerged as the leading contender. On 22 July 1880, the British recognised him as Amir in return for his acceptance of the Gandamak provisions — including British control of Afghan foreign affairs — with the condition that Britain abandon their resident in Kabul. By April 1881, British forces had fully withdrawn from Afghanistan.[1][2]
Abdur Rahman went on to spend twenty-one years unifying the country through military force, becoming known as the "Iron Amir." He crushed more than forty rebellions, reorganised the army, and negotiated the Durand Line with British India in 1893.[7]
Ironically, Britain's desired arrangement — a buffer state with controlled foreign relations — was what Sher Ali had originally wanted; war could have been avoided had Britain accepted it earlier.[2]