Victory of the Afghans in the Battle of Maiwand p1
Britain will always remember the two battles fought in Afghanistan. One was the disastrous battle of the British army near Kabul in 1842, 1842, and the other was the battle of Maiwand in 1888, 1888. The battle was a result of Britain’s retaliation after the death of its mission in Kabul, but what happened at Mewand shook Great Britain. Was the battle of Maiwand a decisive victory for the Afghans? There was also a Malala in this fight, who was she? Who won Afghanistan’s Game of Thrones? And did Britain crush the Afghans like scorpions according to this cartoon?
In 1888, Afghanistan’s most important player in Game of Thrones was Abdul Rahman Khan. He was the grandson of the former Amir of Afghanistan, Dost Muhammad, and the nephew of his successor, Sher Ali. His father Muhammad Afzal Khan fought a long battle with Sher Ali for the Afghan throne. We have also shown you this story in the fifth episode of the second season of History of Afghanistan. In this war,
Abdul Rehman Khan had helped his father Afzal Khan and his uncle Azam Khan. Afzal Khan became the ruler in 1866, 1866 due to his efforts. He died the following year in 1867, 1867. Then his younger brother Azam Khan became the ruler, then Abdul Rehman Khan helped him too. However, in 1868, when Sher Ali occupied Kabul, Abdul Rahman Khan escaped and reached Russian-occupied Samarkand.
The Russians gave them shelter and hosted them for the next ten, twelve years. Abd al-Rahman Khan, sitting in Samarkand, was constantly waiting for the opportunity to establish his rule over Afghanistan. The abdication of Amir Yaqoob Khan and the ongoing rebellions against the British in Afghanistan gave Abdul Rahman Khan this opportunity. He started preparing to return to Afghanistan. Before returning home,
Abdul Rahman Khan visited the shrine of the famous Sufi Khwaja Ahrar of Samarkand. Here he claimed that Khwaja Ahrar had given him the good news that if he would go out with his flag, that is Khwaja Ahrar, then he would get victory. After that, Abdul Rahman Khan crossed the Amu River in January 1888 and reached the Afghan province of Badakhshan. Just as they expected, the Afghans welcomed them and flocked under their banner in thousands, thus creating a new army.
Let me also tell you here that the British conquered only the area from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan. That is, Eastern, Central and Southern, Eastern, Central and Southern Afghanistan were under their control. However, Northern and Western Afghanistan had not yet come to the hands of the British. The Afghan governors of these areas were loyal to former Amir Yaqub Khan. When Amir Abdul Rahman Khan entered Badakhshan,
The local rulers were defeated no matter how much they tried to compete with him. Afghan troops stationed in Badakhshan also met Abdul Rahman Khan. Abdul Rahman captured the capital of Badakhshan, Faizabad, with the help of this army. After that, they extended their control to many other areas of northern Afghanistan. These actions of Abdul Rahman Khan were obviously seen by the British. But the British acted expediently instead of confronting Abdul Rahman Khan.
He felt that Abdul Rahman Khan was the only ally who could ensure the honorable return of the British from Afghanistan. The reason for this was that another claimant to the throne of Kabul had emerged who was an open enemy of the British. This enemy was Ayub Khan who was the brother of former Amir Yaqub Khan and the governor of Herat.
He declared himself the new Amir of Afghanistan and declared jihad against the British. Whereas Abdul Rahman Khan, who was victorious in the northern region, had no war with the British. Although they had gathered enough troops to attack Kabul. His supporters also wanted Abdul Rahman Khan to declare jihad against the British as Ayub Khan had done.
