nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47Lord, a physician turned political officer and finally soldier, was killed.
Fraser somehow survived the charge and made it back to the British lines,
but his sabre hand had been almost severed at the wrist. Dost Muhammad
Khan, seeing what had happened, ordered his cavalry to counter-charge,
whereupon the Bengal Horse turned and fled, and many were killed in the
pursuit that followed. As a consequence of their cowardice and refusal to
obey orders, the 2nd Bengal Horse was disgraced, the regiment disbanded
and its name struck from the records of the Indian Army.
Sale responded by sending his infantry and Qizilbash to storm the
heights. After heavy fighting and much loss of life, they finally took the
ridge but the Amir withdrew in good order. During the night the Afghans
reoccupied the heights, which appear to have been left undefended, and
fired into the British camp in the plain below. The following day both
Burnes and Timur Mirza advised Sale to abandon the campaign, for those
Afghan troops that had not already deserted were on the verge of mutiny.
Sale had lost hundreds of men and many more were wounded. With
supplies running low, he ordered his force to return to Charikar. Once he
had crossed the Panjshir river, the villages and settlements he had taken
at such a great cost were quickly reoccupied.
The ‘surrender’ of Dost Muhammad KhanSale had little to show for two months of hard campaigning other than a
trail of devastation. Despite this Sale claimed Parwan Darra was a victory,
but he was unable to conceal the uncomfortable fact that the Indian cavalry
had refused to obey orders and as a consequence several British officers
had been killed or wounded. Atkinson, the army’s surgeon general, called
the encounter a ‘disaster’ and Kaye too regarded Parwan Darra as a defeat. 9
Even the ever-optimistic Macnaghten was depressed when he heard the
news. Indeed, had the rebel army pursued Sale’s brigade to Charikar it is
likely that the defeat could have been even more disastrous, for Sale’s force
had suffered heavy losses and there were even fewer troops left to defend
Kabul. However, even as Sale limped back to Charikar, the military and
political situation was dramatically turned on its head. Early in the evening
of 2 November 1840 a lone horseman, later identified as Sultan Muhammad
Khan Safi, rode up to Macnaghten as he returned from his evening ride
and enquired if he was the British envoy. When this was confirmed another
rider came up, dismounted and grasped Macnaghten’s stirrup. Much to his
astonishment, Macnaghten realized the second horseman was none other
than Dost Muhammad Khan.