nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47that the Governor General had issued him with a deportation order and
he had to return to America.
Hajji Khan Kakar was another powerful leader incarcerated in the Bala
Hisar. Despite being a slippery schemer, it had been his defection that had
secured Kandahar for the Army of the Indus without a fight. Furthermore,
his Kakar tribe controlled the army’s vital supply route through the Khojak
Pass. Shah Shuja‘ had restored him to high office, but within days of the
fall of Kabul Hajji Khan was imprisoned, after the British accused him of
letting Dost Muhammad Khan escape. He, along with Sardar Muhammad
Haidar Khan, Dost Muhammad’s son, were later condemned to the ultim
ate humiliation: exile to India. Shah Shuja‘ compounded his errors by
failing to reward other individuals who had played a significant role in
placing him on the throne and instead appointed members of his Ludhiana
circle to the highest offices of state. Among those who felt slighted were
Ghulam Khan Popalzai, Mir Hajji and Hafizji, who had been responsible
for raising the tribes of Kohistan and Tagab and securing control of Kabul.
As Mohan Lal noted, ‘the more we found the people quiet, the more steps
we took in shaking their confidence’. 2
It was not long either before conflict arose between the king and the
British political establishment. Shah Shuja‘ maintained that no British offi
cial had any right to interfere in his internal affairs, which included the
administration of justice, the appointment of military and civil officials
and revenue raising. Yet despite this, Macnaghten and Burnes did their
best to run the affairs of state behind the scenes by ‘advising’ the king
on policy, securing appointments for proBritish officials and forcing the
king to revoke judicial decisions. Later Burnes drew up plans for a major
overhaul of revenue raising, as well as military and bureaucratic reforms.
Increasingly the political and military leadership of the Army of the Indus
did not even bother to consult the king or inform him of their actions,
acting independently of the civil authority they themselves had established.
It did not take long before Afghans realized the king and his British backers
were at odds, and they skilfully played the two sides off against each other.
Petitioners whose requests were rejected by the king or his wazir turned to
Burnes, Macnaghten or senior military officers, who then put pressure on
Shah Shuja‘ to revoke his decisions. Even Afghans who had little wish to
see a Saddozai back on the throne resented the fact that the monarchy had
been stripped of all but token power and that foreigners, and nonMuslims
to boot, were effectively ruling the country.
The presence of some 30,000 men, women and children, which
doubled the population of the Afghan capital, as well as the construction of