afghanistanwithdrawal of General Nott, Kohan Dil Khan had reoccupied the city,
which became a safe haven for Muhammadzai sardars opposed to Dost
Muhammad Khan and his family. A year or so after the Amir returned to
Kabul, Kohan Dil Khan marched on the capital in an attempt to depose
his half-brother, but after an inconclusive encounter near Ghazni, Kohan
Dil Khan pledged his allegiance to Dost Muhammad Khan on condition
he remained as the autonomous governor of Kandahar.
Dost Muhammad made it his priority to establish a more professional
army and to rely less on unreliable tribal levies and ghulams, a conviction
strengthened by his experience of fighting the British and Indian army as
well as his time in India. Wazir Akbar Khan and his brothers were required
to raise and equip five regiments, totalling some 4,000 men, which became
the core of a nascent national army. Many of the troops had previously
belonged to the British-trained Janbaz and Hazarbashi regiments, wore
European-style uniforms and were armed with muskets pillaged from, or
surrendered by, the Army of the Indus. The army’s munitions also included
several British artillery pieces, including siege guns, and a vast store of
ammunition, armaments that helped to swing the military balance in the
Amir’s favour.
Despite all this military equipment, the army’s first campaign was a
disaster. Sardars Afzal Khan and Akbar Khan were sent into the Kunar
to subdue the Khan of Bajur, only to abandon the campaign in the face
of fierce resistance. Dost Muhammad Khan had better success with his
next project, the subjugation of Bamiyan and the eastern Hazarajat. This
time Akram Khan was put in charge of operations and within a matter
of months the amirs of Behsud, Deh Zangi, Dai Kundi and Bamiyan had
acknowledged the Amir’s suzerainty. When Akram Khan returned to
Kabul, he was laden with booty as well as a large sum of cash. In 1846,
however, the Amir’s attempt to impose his authority in Kohistan and raise
new taxes led the region to rebel under the leadership of Ma’az Allah Khan,
or Mazu Khan, who had given Dost Muhammad Khan so much trouble
during his first reign, and Sahibzada Janan and Sahibzada Fath, probably
leaders of the Sayyid clan. When Nawab Jabbar Khan and his Ghilzais
were sent against them he was defeated, so Wazir Akbar Khan and Sher
‘Ali Khan were dispatched with three of the new regiments and crushed
the revolt. Mazu Khan and Sahibzada Janan died in battle, but Sahibzada
Fath was captured and sentenced to be crushed to death by an elephant.
By the fourth year of his second reign, Dost Muhammad Khan’s hold on
power had been greatly increased, only for tragedy to strike. In September
1847 an outbreak of cholera led to the deaths of hundreds of people in