afghanistan
The stand-off with Britain continued unresolved until the summer
of 1878, meanwhile Turkey suffered a major defeat in the Balkans and in
the Caucasus. In February 1878 Russian forces occupied Erzerum, while
in the west Russian troops were a matter of a few marches from Istanbul.
In response, Britain sent a fleet into the eastern Mediterranean to halt
the Russian advance. On 3 March 1878 Turkey signed the Treaty of San
Stefano, and by so doing lost all but token sovereignty over most of the
Balkans, Armenia and Georgia. In June the six Great Powers met in Berlin
to finalize the new Balkan frontiers with Britain attempting to contain
Russian expansion and prevent her from securing a naval base in the
eastern Mediterranean.
General Kaufman, in an effort to put pressure on Britain and influ-
ence the outcome of the Congress of Berlin, wrote to the Amir informing
him that he was sending General Nikolai Stoletov to Kabul to discuss
Russian-Afghan relations. A short time later another Russian officer,
Colonel Nikolai Ivanovich Grodekov, crossed the Amu Darya and, in
defiance of the Amir’s wishes, conducted a high-profile military survey
of the caravan route from Mazar to Herat via Sar-i Pul, the Shirin Tagab
and Maimana. 48 Kaufman’s brinkmanship created even greater concern in
Britain that Russia was planning a military intervention in Afghanistan.
Sher ‘Ali Khan was equally alarmed and requested that Stoletov’s mission
be called off, but Kaufman refused and instead informed the Amir that
Russia would hold him personally responsible for the safety and honour-
able reception of the envoy. Sher ‘Ali Khan was now caught in a cleft stick.
He dare not turn Stoletov back at the frontier as this would provide Russia
with an excuse to invade Herat or Afghan Turkistan, yet if he received
the envoy, Britain might well use his presence to justify the invasion and
possible annexation of southern Afghanistan.
Sher ‘Ali Khan did his best to delay Stoletov’s arrival in Kabul in the
hope that under British pressure the Russian Foreign Ministry would recall
him, but Stoletov ignored the delaying tactics of the Amir’s officials and
in late July 1878 he arrived in the Afghan capital. According to the British
version of events, Sher ‘Ali Khan then negotiated a secret treaty with Russia,
but in fact all Stoletov did was to draft a memorandum of the Amir’s wish
list and forward it to Kaufman for approval. What Sher ‘Ali did not know
at the time was that Kaufman had no authority from St Petersburg for
either the Stoletov Mission or Grodekov’s survey. When the British asked
Count Gorchakov, the Russian Foreign Minister, who was heading Russia’s
delegation in Berlin, to explain his country’s actions, he admitted privately
that he had no knowledge of any mission to Kabul. Gorchakov ordered
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