afghanistan
The imprisonment of Ya‘qub Khan was a cause of further tension
between Britain and the Amir. Northbrook had not interfered in the
appointment of ‘Abd Allah Jan as heir apparent, but in his personal view
Ya‘qub Khan was the best candidate to ensure stability after the Amir’s
death. So when Ya‘qub was imprisoned the Viceroy wrote to Sher ‘Ali Khan
asking him to honour his pledge and release and reinstate Ya‘qub as gov -
ernor of Herat. The Amir did not appreciate Northbrook’s intervention and
in reply Sher ‘Ali Khan pointed out that Britain had no right to interfere
in his internal affairs. Northbrook’s untimely intervention led the Amir
to suspect Britain had covertly encouraged Ya‘qub Khan’s rebellion in the
belief that he would be more willing to yield to British demands.
Lord Lytton and the Forward PolicyWhile the Amir tried to prevent an internecine war, a change in govern-
ment in Britain led to a further deterioration in the already strained
Anglo-Afghan relationship. In February 1874 Disraeli’s Conservatives
came to power with Lord Salisbury in charge of the India Office. Both
Disraeli and Salisbury were ardent supporters of the Forward Policy,
with the consequence that the new administration was far more inter-
ventionist when it came to Anglo-Afghan relations and took a negative
view of Sher ‘Ali Khan personally and his relations with Britain in general.
Even before their election victory, Salisbury had told Disraeli that Britain
should insist on at least one British agent being stationed in Afghanistan.
After the Conservatives came to power, this became one of the govern-
ment’s key foreign policy objectives. In one of his first communications
to Northbrook, Salisbury questioned the whole Afghanistan policy: ‘Have
you entirely satisfied yourself of the truth of the orthodox doctrine that
our interest is to have a strong and independent Afghanistan?’ Salisbury
then expressed his own ‘many misgivings as to the wisdom of making the
friendliness of the Ameer the pivot of our policy’, claiming that one day he
might well use any guns and military support Britain gave him to invade
India. 26 As far as Salisbury was concerned, Sher ‘Ali Khan was not just
untrustworthy but potentially treacherous. Sher ‘Ali Khan’s correspond-
ence with Kaufman was now used against him with Salisbury claiming,
erroneously, that Sher ‘Ali Khan had initiated it.
Disraeli’s aggressive Afghanistan policy was influenced by wider
concerns about Russia’s intentions, in particular in the Balkans. A series
of nationalistic uprisings against Ottoman rule in Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Bulgaria and Romania had been brutally suppressed by Ottoman