Afghanistan. A History from 1260 to the Present - Jonathan L. Lee (2018)

afghanistan

reinforcements. A further 3,000 men and 32 additional artillery pieces
were sent to assist him and eventually Asaf al­Daula managed to occupy
Ghuriyan. As he advanced on Almar, Mizrab Bi in Maimana submitted
to Persian authority but the Turkmans and Aimaqs fought on, cutting the
army’s overextended supply line and forcing Asaf al­Daula into winter
quarters in Ghuriyan. For some three months the Persian force played
no part in the siege of Herat and when the bitter Badghis winter set in,
hundreds of Persian soldiers and their animals died from exposure and
starvation. By the time Asaf al­Daula returned to Herat in April 1838, what
was left of his army was unfit for combat. 46
By the spring of 1838 the siege of Herat had made little progress.
Despite regular artillery bombardments, the city walls held and the defend­
ers managed to beat back the Persian assaults. The siege had also taken
an unexpected turn when Henry Pottinger’s nephew, Lieutenant Eldred

The Tir Band­i

Turkistan is cut

through by deep,

narrow gorges. It

was terrain like this,

near Ghulbiyan, in

southeastern Faryab

province, that the Asif

al­Daula’s army was

trapped in during the

Persian campaign

against the Aimaq

and Uzbek

confederacy.