afghanistanAkbar Khan’s attack on the Bala Hisar did not go down well with
other factions and behind the scenes some of his rivals opened discus-
sions with Macnaghten. On 21 December Macnaghten informed Lal that
several unnamed Ghilzai chiefs, probably those he had been negotiating
with before, were now prepared to supply 100 to 200 kharwars of food and
fodder to the cantonment during the night of the 21/22 December for a cash
payment of two lakh rupees. In return, on the following morning the chiefs
would seek an audience with the king and tender their oath of allegiance.
The agreement, though, was a double-cross. As soon as these Ghilzai
chiefs had tendered their submission to the king, Lal was to inform
Macnaghten, whereupon he would send a message to Akbar Khan abro-
gating the 11 December agreement on the grounds that neither he nor his
father had the support of the people of Afghanistan. The British forces
would then attack Akbar Khan in the Shah Bagh while the Ghilzais, Khan
Shirin Khan’s Jawanshir and Royalist forces would attack from the south.
‘Do not let me appear in this matter,’ Macnaghten told Lal, ‘say that I
am ready to stand by my engagements, but that I leave it to the people
themselves.’ 32
Macnaghten’s scheme was both treacherous and high risk, for while
he publicly reassured Akbar Khan that Britain would abide by the terms
of the 11 December agreement, behind his back Macnaghten was planning
Kabul in winter. Temperatures in the Afghan capital can fall as low as -20ºc and heavy snow
covers the ground from late November to March. The winter of 1841/2 was particularly
severe and took a terrible toll on the retreating Army of the Indus.