The First Anglo-Afghan War - Part Six: Britain Had Returned to Kabul, So Why Did It Leave?

The First Anglo-Afghan War - Part Six: Britain Had Returned to Kabul, So Why Did It Leave?

In Part Five, we followed Major-General George Pollock and the British-led forces as they fought their way back towards Kabul in 1842. Only months earlier, the retreat from the Afghan capital had ended in disaster. Now British troops had returned. But they were not going to stay.

Today I want to finish the story of the First Anglo-Afghan War, because what happened next raises a rather uncomfortable question. After three years of fighting, what had Britain actually achieved?

Pollock reached Kabul in September 1842, and he was soon joined by Major-General William Nott, whose force had travelled north from Kandahar. One of their most important objectives was to recover the British prisoners who had been held following the uprising and disastrous retreat earlier that year. Around 95 hostages were recovered, including soldiers, women and children. For families who had spent months not knowing what would happen to them, their return was one of the few happier moments in an otherwise grim campaign.

But the British return to Kabul was also intended to send a message. The humiliation of January 1842 had badly damaged Britain's military reputation, and those in command wanted to demonstrate that the destruction of the retreating column had not gone unanswered.

Before leaving Kabul, British troops destroyed parts of the city, including its famous covered bazaar. The destruction was intended as an act of retribution, but it did not remain neatly contained. Looting followed and fire spread through parts of Kabul. It was a harsh ending to a war which had already brought enormous suffering to soldiers and civilians alike.

And then something rather remarkable happened. The British left. On the 12th of October 1842, Pollock's army began its journey back towards India. There would be no renewed attempt to permanently occupy Kabul. No attempt to rebuild the political arrangement Britain had tried to impose only a few years earlier. The cost had simply become too great.

And perhaps the clearest indication of how badly the original plan had failed can be found in what happened next. At the beginning of the war, Britain had invaded Afghanistan partly to remove Dost Mohammad Khan from power. The British had replaced him with Shah Shuja, believing that a ruler friendly towards British interests would make Afghanistan more secure.

But Shah Shuja had been murdered in 1842. Dost Mohammad, meanwhile, had been held in British custody. After the British withdrawal, he was released. He returned to Afghanistan, and by 1843 was once again ruling from Kabul.

The man Britain had gone to such lengths to remove was back on the throne. Dost Mohammad would rule for another two decades, until his death in 1863.

It is difficult to look at the First Anglo-Afghan War without thinking about the enormous price that had been paid. Thousands of soldiers and camp followers had died. Families had been separated. Kabul had experienced rebellion, fighting and destruction. And the British East India Company had spent huge sums of money on a campaign which had failed to produce the political settlement it had originally wanted.

Britain could claim that its army had returned to Kabul, recovered the prisoners and restored some of the military reputation lost during the retreat. But the larger ambition had failed. Afghanistan had not become the secure, compliant state British planners had imagined. Instead, the war had demonstrated just how difficult it could be for an outside power to control the politics of the country.

By the end of 1842, British forces were withdrawing back towards India. And Dost Mohammad was preparing to return. After invasion, occupation, rebellion, one of the most disastrous retreats in British military history and finally a march back to Kabul... Britain had ended the war remarkably close to where it had begun.

That is perhaps what makes the First Anglo-Afghan War such a fascinating part of Victorian history. It began with fears about Russian influence and Britain's determination to shape events beyond the borders of India. It ended with thousands dead and the ruler Britain had removed returning to power.

So, after following the story from the invasion of 1839 to the withdrawal in 1842, what do you think? Was there ever any realistic chance that Britain's plan for Afghanistan could have worked? Or was this a war that should never have been fought in the first place?

I would love to hear your thoughts.