afghanistanAllah Khan offered to release them in return for a ransom of 10,000 gold
tilas, but the two men refused.
Despite the harsh conditions of their imprisonment, Conolly some-
how managed to smuggle out the occasional letter and kept a secret diary
on the pages of his prayer book. This work remarkably survived and is a
poignant testimony to his harrowing experience as well as his Christian
faith, for Conolly was a member of the ‘Clapham Sect’, Wilberforce’s
evangelical, anti-slavery circle. Finally in June 1842 Stoddard and Conolly
were brought into the public square, where their graves were dug before
their eyes. Stoddard was the first to have his head sawn off and Conolly
was offered his life on condition he converted to Islam. Conolly pointedly
remarked that Stoddard had made a token conversion in an attempt to
save his neck, but yet his life had been forfeited. He was prepared to die
as a Christian and so the executioner beheaded him too. Despite several
attempts to locate their graves in recent times, the last resting place of these
two British officers has yet to be located.
The unsustainability of the British occupation and its consequencesWhile Conolly and Stoddard languished in a Bukharan dungeon, the
British occupation of Afghanistan dragged on long after the original with-
drawal date. This resulted in growing concern in Calcutta and London.
The Indus campaign had tied up a total of 26,000 troops: as well as the
16,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, a further 9,000 were stationed in Sind and
Baluchistan to protect the army’s supply lines. Following the death of Ranjit
Singh, additional troops had been sent to the Punjab frontier and yet more
regiments were needed to pursue the Opium War with China, which had
broken out as the Army in India marched on Kandahar. The stationing of
so many troops beyond the frontiers of India raised concerns that there
were insufficient forces left to deal with any revolt in the Indian heartland.
Auckland was also increasingly concerned at the burgeoning cost
of the Afghan intervention. In the fiscal year 1840/41 the occupation of
Afghanistan cost the Indian Exchequer more than 1 million pounds, while
another half a million pounds was needed to cover the expenses of the
garrisons in Sind, logistical support and the maintenance of a flotilla of
barges on the Indus. The cost was such that the Indian Government was
running a deficit to the tune of a million pounds and had to borrow heav-
ily. This was unsustainable and in the spring of 1841 Auckland informed
London that the only answer was to withdraw all but two regiments, leav-
ing only one in Kabul and one in Kandahar, and withdraw all troops within