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AFGHANISTAN. India was impossible, the outbreak took place at Kabul. Burnes, Maenaghten, and several British officers were slain. It was then agreed that the invaders should leave the country; while, on the other hand, Akbar Khan and his confederates stipulated to provide an escort and make other necessary arrangements for the re- treat. Depending on these promises, the British army left Kabul on January 6, 1842, in order to return by the Khyber Pass into India; but neither escort nor provisions were supplied by the Afghan leaders, and the severity of the sea- son increased the misery of the retreat. Tiie fanatical tribes of the districts harassed the flanks and rear of the army. To escape total destruction, the women and children, together with the married men, surrendered to Akbar Khan, and out of the Ki.OOO souls that had set out from Kabul, only one man (Dr. Brydon) es- caped to carry the dismal tidings to General Sale, who still lield his position at Jelalabad. Almost against liis own will, the new Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, sent other forces into Afghanistan. General Nott held out at Kanda- har, while General Pollock, at the head of the invading army, forced the Khyber Pass, relieved General Sale, and eflfected a victorious march to Kabul, which he entered in .September. The English officers and the women who had surrendered as prisoners to Akbar Khan were restored to liberty, and soon afterward the troops marched back to India. It was believed that the Afghans were deprived of all power to con- federate against the government of India; but this conclusion was too hastv. for in 1846 they formed an alliance with the Sikhs against the British, Dost Moliammed being released and permitted to reoccupy his throne. After the decisive battle of Gujerat (February 21, 1849), the Sikhs were forsaken by the Afghans, and Dost Mohammed, with about 10,000 men, fled over the Indus. After this period. Dost Mohammed devot- ed his attention almost exclusively to the consoli- dation of his dominions, governing well, and al- ways seeking to maintain friendly relations with the Anglo-Indian government. He died in 1863, appointing Shere Ali, one of his younger sons, as his heir. At first the choice was acquiesced in by the sixteen sons of Dost Mohammed, a large number of whom were governors of prov- inces; but disputes followed, which for many years kept Afghanistan in a state of anarchy. (See K.Bi'L.) The British government of India had recognized Shere Ali at his accession, and it was the policy of Lord Lawrence's administration in India to abstain from any interference with Afghan affairs. Lord Ma.yo assumed a like attitude. The claims of Shere All's son Yakub to share in the government were ignored, and in 1870 he headed a rebellion against his father: but in the following year a reconciliation was effected through the intervention of England. In 1860 it was settled between England and Rus- sia that all the territory between the Amu- Daria and the Hindu-Kush should be treated as part of Afghanistan. The British conserva- tive governnu'nt which came into power in 1874 was totally opposed to the policy of non- interference, and the Indian government was ordered to insist upon the reception of a British resident at Kabul. This demand was made im- peratively in 1878, when a Russian mission had been received. The Afghans, remembering Burnes and Maenaghten and their double deal- ing, were bitterly opposed to any more British residents, and the refusal of the Ameer to receive the mission led to the second Afghan war, which in many ways was a repetition of the first, althougli the disasters were somewhat mitigated. The British invading columns forced the Khvber Pass and were victorious at the Peiwar Pass, and occupied Jelalabad before the end of 1878. In Jaunar.y. 1879, they entered Kandahar. A few weeks later Shere Ali died, and his rebel- lious son. Yakub. whose cause had been taken up by the British, was proclaimed Ameer and con- cluded theTreaty of Gandamak with them in May, It was provided that there should be a British resident at Kabul, and that Great Britain should defend Afghanistan against foreign aggression, the .meer receiving a subsidy. The Kurani, Pishin. and Sibi valleys became British terri- torv, and the Kli.vber Pass came under British control.

The peace did not last. In September of the same year there was a revolt in the capital, the Britisli resident. Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his suite were murdered, and the British troops, which were on the point of withdrawing from the country, were compelled to renew the campaign. The Kabul army under General Roberts was the strongest column and held the key to the situa- tion. General Burrows was defeated by the Afghans in July, 1880, and compelled to retreat to Kandahar, which seemed likely to be captured. It was saved by the brilliant march of General Roberts with a strong force from the main army, a march which won for him a peerage with the title Lord Roberts of Kandahar. Abd-ur-Rah- man (q.v. ) having been accepted as Ameer by the Afghan chiefs, was recognized by Great Brit- ain. He soon established his government firmly, and maintained, until his death in 1901, a good understanding with Great Britain, while not antagonizing Russia. His son Habib Ullah suc- ceeded him. A treaty with Great Britain in 1893 gave Kafiristan to Afghanistan, which .renounced its claims to Waziristan. Afghan- istan is politically important in the present con- dition of Asia as a buffer State between the two great rivals, Russia and Great Britain, and as one of the barriers between Russian Central Asia and the southern sea.

There is a voluminous literature of description, travels, and political discussion relating to Afglianistan, and several personal narratives of the British campaigns have been published. For ethnology, see Bellew, Races of Afghanistan (London, 1880), and Oliver, Pathan and Bilork (London. 1890). Among the more useful works on the history of the country maj' be noted: Malleson, History of Afghanistan (London, 1879): Mir Bukhari Abd a'l Karim, Histoirc rlc I'Asie ccntrale: Afghanistan, Bnukhura, Khira, Kliofjuand, 17-iO-lSlS, translated by Schefcr (Paris. 1876); Wheeler, A Short Historr/ of India and of the Frontier States of Afghanistan (London. 1880); Grant, CasseU's Illustrated Histnrii of India (Volumes I. and II., London. 1877): Lord Roberts, Fnrti/-nine Years in IndiaCLondou. 1897); Forbes, The AfqhanWars (London. fii^2): Hanna. The Second ' Afghan. War, 1S78-18S0, Volume I. (London, 1899); Bellew, Afghanistan and the Afghans (London. 1879), and Walker, Afghanistan (London, 1885), a somewliat prejudiced Englisli view. On .fghanistan as a buffer State between Russia and Great Britain in Asia: Marvin. The Russians at the Gates of Herat