afghanistanmilitary and political influence beyond the Amu Darya and securing stra-
tegic depth on India’s Northwest Frontier. As far as Britain was concerned,
Afghanistan was a key geopolitical kingdom, but there was little interest
in the Afghan people themselves.
Back in Kabul, Sher ‘Ali Khan did his best to portray his Indian visit
as a diplomatic triumph. The sixty lakh rupees and muskets helped to
suppress criticism from some quarters, but he still had to explain why he
had not returned with a new treaty and lost the subsidy that his father had
enjoyed. Sher ‘Ali therefore disingenuously claimed that the cash and guns
were the first of many similar gifts and the official statement and histories
refer to the aide-memoire as an ‘ahd (treaty or covenant). 22
It was not long after the Amir returned that he faced another serious
challenge to his authority, though whether it was related to the outcome of
the Umballa Conference or not is unclear. Muhammad Isma‘il Khan, who
had defected from the army of ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan and secured Kabul in
the name of Sher ‘Ali Khan, was disappointed at not being rewarded with
the governorship of Balkh. After a row with the Amir, he stormed out of
the Bala Hisar and took refuge with the Jawanshir Qizilbash in Chindawal,
occupying Qal‘a-yi Madar-i Wazir in Chahardeh. When Sher ‘Ali Khan
threatened to turn his artillery on Chindawal, the Jawanshir surrendered
the rebel sardar, who was exiled to India. However, Muhammad Isma‘il
escaped and fled to Balkh where he tried to raise another revolt. When
this failed too, he threw himself on the Amir’s mercy and agreed to go
into exile in Lahore.
Isma‘il Khan’s revolt appears to have convinced Sher ‘Ali Khan that the
Bala Hisar was no longer a secure place for him to live in, so he commis-
sioned a new fortified royal residence, which he named Sherpur, located
under the southern slopes of the Behmaru and Qal‘a-yi Musa hills. The
citadel incorporated most of the ruined British cantonment and was a
vast complex of barracks, administrative buildings and royal residences,
surrounded by thick mud walls punctuated by bastions. Sherpur, however,
was never finished and the site lacked an adequate water supply. As costs
spiralled out of control, the Amir eventually abandoned the project.
Dynastic rivalries and revolts in Afghan TurkistanMeanwhile there were growing tensions within the Amir’s immediate
family. When ‘Abd Allah Jan was proclaimed as heir apparent in 1870,
Muhammad Ya‘qub Khan, the Amir’s eldest son, refused to accept his
father’s decision. Ya‘qub Khan then tried to take control of Kandahar, but