nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47Central Asian policy that he referred to his time as news writer as ‘thral
d o m ’. 24 It did not help that Masson and Wade were at odds about policy,
with Masson advocating for British recognition of Dost Muhammad Khan,
while Wade supported the restoration of Shah Shuja‘, since he was already
in treaty alliance with the Sikhs. Wade also manipulated Masson’s reports,
using selective quotes in his dispatches to the Governor General to make
it appear Masson endorsed his point of view.
Hajji Khan Kakar’s campaigns in the Hazarajat and KhulmFollowing Burnes’s visit, Dost Muhammad Khan sent Hajji Khan Kakar,
who was hakim of Bamiyan, into the Hazarajat to subdue Yazdan Bakhsh of
Behsud, who was leading a growing Hazara confederacy. Yazdan Bakhsh also
controlled the road over the Hajigak Pass, a vital link in the southern road
from Kabul to Bamiyan, and his subjugation was part of Dost Muhammad
Khan’s strategy of controlling all the commercial routes to the Amu Darya
and the lucrative customs duties. Hajji Khan Kakar too had a vested interest
in deposing Yazdan Bakhsh, since he was a threat to his power and revenue
stream, while the Jawanshir Qizilbash supported the campaign since the
Hazara amir had threatened to confiscate their estates in Behsud.
Dost Muhammad Khan had earlier lured Yazdan Bakhsh to Kabul
under a pledge of safe conduct, despite warnings from his wife that the
Amir could not be trusted. When Yazdan Bakhsh arrived in Kabul, he was
imprisoned and sentenced to death, but secured a stay of execution by
offering to pay a ransom of 50,000 rupees, but while these funds were being
collected, Shi‘a partisans in Kabul engineered his escape. Dost Muhammad
vented his anger on Yazdan’s wife, only to find she was more than a match
for him. The daughter of the amir of Deh Zangi, she was a woman ‘of
masculine understanding and habits’ and was accustomed to accompanying
her husband into battle ‘armed and mounted’, dressed in men’s clothing.
She even attended tribal councils and had no compunction about giving
her advice to the assembled elders. 25 When Dost Muhammad confronted
her about her husband’s escape, she boldly retorted: ‘Oh, son of Pahinda
[sic] Khan, art thou not ashamed to array thyself against a female?’ 26 Dost
Muhammad Khan responded by confining her to Chindawal, only for her to
escape disguised as a man. When a posse was sent to recapture her she held
them at bay with a musket and eventually rejoined her husband in Behsud.
Hajji Khan Kakar tried to convince the fugitive Yazdan Bakhsh that
Dost Muhammad Khan was prepared to forgive him, but when he refused
to return to Kabul, Hajji Khan forged a secret alliance with Muhammad ‘Ali