afghanistanup were authorized to accept uncorroborated evidence by informers, even
though it was ‘highly probable... some comparatively innocent persons
may suffer’, but ‘that cannot be helped’. As far as Lytton was concerned, the
guilt or innocence of particular individuals was of no consequence for not
only was Kabul ‘the great national culprit’,
The whole Afghan population is particeps criminis in a great
national crime; and every Afghan brought to death by the avenging
arm of the British Power, I shall regard as one scoundrel the less in
a den of scoundrelism... You cannot stop to pick and chuse [sic]
Ringleaders. Every soldier of the Herat Regiment is ipso facto guilty;
and so is every civilian, be he priest or layman, Mullah or peasant,
who joined the mob of assassins... Remember, it is not justice in
the ordinary sense, but retribution that you have to administer on
reaching Kabul... Your object should be to strike terror, and to
strike it swiftly and deeply; but avoid a ‘Reign of Terror’. 11According to Major General Sir Charles MacGregor, Roberts’s aide-
de-camp, ‘Bobs’ was just the right man for this job, for he was a ‘cruel,
blood-thirsty little brute’. 12 Indeed, Roberts had already shown his ruth-
lessness during his occupation of Khost, where he had burnt and plundered
villages, ordered a cavalry officer to ‘take no prisoners’ and turned a blind
eye to an Indian officer who executed ninety prisoners in cold blood.
Unfortunately for Roberts, a journalist embedded with his division wrote
an account of his actions in the British press, which led to a furore. Roberts,
with Lytton’s agreement, responded not by moderating his policy, but by
expelling the offending correspondent.
Once in possession of Kabul, Roberts summoned government officials
to the Bala Hisar and dismissed them. He then proclaimed martial law over
a 16-kilometre (10-mile) radius from the capital and offered substantial
rewards for information leading to the arrest of anyone implicated in the
Residency massacre. All the surrounding villages were forcibly disarmed
and settlements that were found to be harbouring mutineers, such as
Indiki, were fined heavily. Roberts then set up a Commission of Enquiry,
consisting solely of British officers, to attribute blame for the massacre; it
concluded, not unexpectedly, that Amir Ya‘qub Khan’s ‘guilt and complicity’
was ‘conclusive’. As a result, the Amir abdicated and he and three other
senior sardars were exiled to India.
Others implicated in the massacre were less fortunate. Roberts erected
two gallows in the ruins of the Residency where those condemned to death