afghanistanlate November the situation was so desperate that horses and camels were
being slaughtered for food and to reduce the number of pack animals that
needed feeding.
Inside the cantonment, military and political commanders argued over
how best to respond to the crisis. The situation was not helped when, the
day after Burnes’s death, Elphinstone’s horse stumbled and fell on top of
him. Already crippled by gout, Elphinstone was so badly injured – he
probably suffered internal damage to his organs – that he had to order the
military response from his sickbed. His tendency to dither was exacerbated
by his injuries and increasingly bitter disagreements among senior officers.
In the end, Shelton hardly spoke to him and often failed to turn up to
meetings. To compound the problem, Elphinstone was meant to have left
for India by this time and was technically no longer in command of the
army. Shelton believed that it was he who was now in charge of military
operations.
While the high command dithered about their plan of action, the in -
appropriateness of the cantonment’s ground plan seriously limited the
army’s ability to conduct forays outside the walls, for most of the troops
were tied up defending the perimeter and only one regiment could be
spared for offensive operations. British forces were also split between the
cantonment, the Bala Hisar and two outposts on the Siyah Sang and But
Khak. Elphinstone ordered these last two positions to be abandoned and
they were quickly occupied by the Jabbar Khel. Some senior officers wanted
to abandon the cantonment, too, and concentrate their forces inside the
Bala Hisar, a course of action that Shelton opposed on the grounds this
would be tantamount to an admission of defeat.
As grain and fodder ran out there were desperate attempts to purchase
supplies. Two of the leaders of Kabul’s Armenian community, who owned
agricultural land between the Bala Hisar and But Khak, provided some
supplies. Khoja Mir, the malik of Behmaru and the father-in-law of Mir
Masjidi, also sold flour and fodder to the cantonment at grossly inflated
prices, then used the cash to finance his son-in-law’s jihad. Mir Masjidi
was not happy about this double-dealing and, shortly after his arrival in
Kabul, his ghazis occupied Behmaru. On 10 November Shelton reluctantly
agreed to try and occupy this settlement and the nearby qal‘as. After bitter
hand-to-hand fighting Shelton managed to expel Mir Masjidi’s Kohistanis
from Behmaru, took Qal‘a-yi Rikab Bashi and Qal‘a-yi Zu’l-fiqar Khan by
storm, and bombarded the Jabbar Khel positions on the Siyah Sang with
his artillery. Shelton’s victory was greeted with relief by the beleaguered
occupants of the cantonment, but while Mir Masjidi and the Ghilzai had