Afghan History Vignette

In a comment to my remarks in my "Kabul' post Duncan wrote "I think the British Disaster in Afghanistan was in the 1838-42. In the 1870s, Lord Roberts of Kandahar (as he was later titled) decisively defeated Afghan forces and forced a treaty on the country which held for decades."

Duncan is correct that the greatest British disaster occurred in 1842 during the first of the three so called Anglo-Afghan wars". This was at the time the British East India Company was the English power in India.

In January 1842 the British after an Afghan uprising in Kabul were supposedly given safe passage for Elphinstone's army to go back to what is now Pakistan -the Northwest Territories. this is a description from Wilkepedia: "As they struggled through the snowbound passes, the British were attacked by Ghilzai warriors. The evacuees were harassed down the 30 miles (48 km) of treacherous gorges and passes lying along the Kabul River between Kabul and Gandamak, and massacred at the Gandamak pass before reaching the besieged garrison at Jalalabad."

Later that year the English decisively avenged that massacre.

My error was a confusion arising from the disaster of the The Battle of Maiwand which was one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The battle ended in defeat for the British Army. This battle took place I believe in 1880 and was later followed by a war ending British victory. I misplaced in time this disaster by confusing its date with 1892 the date that this Kipling poem was published.

There was thirty dead an' wounded on the ground we wouldn't keep -

No, there wasn't more than twenty when the front began to go;

But, Christ! along the line o' flight they cut us up like sheep,

An' that was all we gained by doing so.

I 'eard the knives be'ind me, but I dursn't face my man,

Nor I don't know where I went to, 'cause I didn't 'alt to see,

Till I 'eard a beggar squealin' out for quarter as 'e ran,

An' I thought I knew the voice an' - it was me!

We was 'idin' under bedsteads more than 'arf a march away;

We was lyin' up like rabbits all about the countryside;

An' the major cursed 'is Maker 'cause 'e lived to see that day'

An' the colonel broke 'is sword acrost, an' cried."

The third Anglo-Afghan war was in 1919-20 and resulted in the installation of a strong King of the English style. About 1973 shortly before we visited Afghanistan he was overthrown in a relatively bloodless coup and a so called democracy established. \Shortly after our visit but not as a result, that government fell victim to Soviet aggression. The second and third Anglo-Afghan wars were in reality an attempt to counteract Russian influence.

On 11/6/08 my post was about Afghanistan and I exhibited some other photos including some the interior. I intend to do so again in the near future in the hope that perhaps we can better understand what our troops are facing. This photo was taken on the flight from Kabul to Bamyian, the snow covered mountains are the Hindu-Kush, the time early September.