nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47were hanged. In all, 87 individuals were executed, often on the flimsiest
of evidence, including Sardar Muhammad Aslam Khan, kotwal of Kabul;
Sardar Sultan ‘Aziz Khan, son of Nawab Muhammad Zaman Khan and a
rival of Wali Muhammad Khan; Khwaja Nazir, a prominent mullah from
the Old City; and General Khusrau Khan, a Kafir who had converted to
Islam. As for the actual ringleaders of the attack, they escaped ‘justice’ for
most of them had fled Kabul long before Roberts arrived.
Roberts’s harshness, however, eventually rebounded on him. Journalists
embedded with the army wrote a series of highly critical articles about his
heavy-handedness, the arbitrary nature of the courts martial and the burn-
ing of villages. After one press report alleged that some Gurkhas had burnt
alive and beheaded several Afghan prisoners, the Daily News damned
Roberts as a murderer. These press reports provided excellent political fuel
for Gladstone’s Liberal Opposition, who accused Disraeli of authorizing a
Reign of Terror. Lytton, too, came in for his share of criticism for pushing
Sher ‘Ali Khan into a corner and actively seeking an opportunity to invade
Afghanistan. In an attempt to save face and his career, Lytton tried to blame
Roberts, only for the latter to defend his actions angrily, claiming that he
had been as ‘merciful and forbearing’ as the circumstances permitted. 13
Despite martial law and all the executions, the British occupation of
Kabul led to both tragedy and revolt. During an inventory of the Bala
Hisar’s arsenal, it was discovered that a huge amount of gunpowder, rockets
and other munitions were lying on the ground in a volatile state. While
troops attempted to neutralize the hazard, there was a massive explosion
that killed a British officer and several Gurkhas, as well as destroying part
of Upper Bala Hisar. Meanwhile in the hinterland of Kabul and Ghazni,
opposition to the British invasion was gathering, though Roberts dismissed
the threat as ‘too far away to take notice of ’. 14 The resistance was divided
into four main factions, all but one of which favoured the return of Ya‘qub
Khan or his son, Shahzada Musa’. In Wardak, Mushk-i ‘Alam declared jihad
against the British and was in an uneasy alliance with General Muhammad
Jan Khan. General Ghulam Haidar Khan, a Tajik from Charkh, was gather-
ing his forces in the Logar; in the Koh Daman, Mir Bacha Khan Kohistani
and Mir ‘Osman Khan, head of the Safis of Nijrab, favoured the cause of
‘Abd al-Rahman Khan and the Samarkand exiles.
There were some, however, who supported the British occupation. They
included the Jawanshir Qizilbash, whose commander had told Cavagnari
that if the British army took Kabul they would happily slaughter every
Muhammadzai they could lay their hands on. Other pro-British groups
included the Hazaras of Kabul and Ghazni and the Chahar Aimaq of the