afghanistan‘the most influential and leading member of the Ameer’s Privy Council’.
When al-Afghani urged ‘Azam Khan to abandon relations with Britain in
favour of Russia, British officials suspected he was a Russian agent provoca-
teur. 18 When Sher ‘Ali Khan took Kabul, al-Afghani stayed on in the hope
he would be given a state appointment, but he was ignored. After deluging
the administration with petitions, Sher ‘Ali Khan finally lost patience and
expelled al-Afghani from the country under armed guard in November
1868, an expulsion that more than likely was influenced by the Amir’s
imminent visit to India.
When Sher ‘Ali Khan arrived in Umballa, the Amir and Lord Mayo
struck up a personal friendship but the negotiations themselves proved
problematic. Mayo’s policy of balancing inaction with too much interfer-
ence meant that he was not prepared to commit the British government
to a treaty that might require military intervention in support of Sher ‘Ali
Khan or his heir in the event of the renewal of the civil war. As for the
Amir, he wanted Britain to formally recognize ‘Abd Allah Jan as his heir
apparent and accept that his descendants alone were the rightful rulers
of Afghanistan. Mayo was not prepared to agree to this either, since such
a commitment threatened to drag Britain into military support for Sher
‘Ali Khan against any foreign power with which he decided to pick a fight.
Mayo then disappointed the Amir further by informing Sher ‘Ali Khan
that Britain would not reinstate the subsidy agreed with his father under
the 1857 treaty, since this had been only a temporary arrangement, not a
permanent commitment. Instead the Amir was given a one-off gift of a
few artillery pieces, 10,000 muskets and sixty lakh rupees with a vague
promise that further gifts of cash and weapons might follow, but only at
the Viceroy’s discretion. The Amir’s request for British officers to train
his army was also declined, nor was Mayo willing to agree to Sher ‘Ali
Khan’s request that Britain arbitrate Afghanistan’s long-standing dispute
with Persia concerning sovereignty over the Sistan.
As far as the Amir was concerned there was very little material gain
from his meeting other than a one-off gift of guns and cash. Yet British
demands were considerable and included stationing a permanent British
envoy in Kabul, a request that caused great ‘alarm’ and ‘agitation’ among
the Afghan delegation. Sher ‘Ali agreed, in principle, to the idea but not
immediately, and only if and when he was able to guarantee the security of
these officials. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, the Amir was essentially
opposed to the idea of any British Resident in Kabul, since his enemies
would use his presence as a sign that he was a British puppet. Lord Mayo,
realizing the delicacy of this issue, did not insist and assured him that