By Dr. Rajkumar Singh
The Great Game for power and influence in Afghanistan commenced between Russia and Great Britain, the two big powers of the time, at the close of the 1840s, when the Kremlin, in 1837, became first to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
It happened when relations between Russia and Great Britain were strained due to clash of interests in the Indian subcontinent. At the time while Russia desired a direct contact and trading route with India, Great Britain feared Russian expansion of territory in India and also interlinked several contemporary events and happenings to Russian working against British interests.
It resulted in the first Anglo-Afghan war that erupted in 1839 and continued till 1842. In the 19th century, Russia proved itself as a emerging power who conquered Tashkent in 1865, Samarkand and Kokand in 1868, and Khiva in 1873, and contrary to British suggestion to consider Afghanistan a buffer state, Russia sent a diplomatic mission to Kabul, although Sher Ali Shah, the Amir of Afghanistan attempted to keep Russian envoy out, it arrived Kabul on 22 July 1878. In response, the British, too, wanted the Amir to accept such a mission and the development became the immediate cause of the second Anglo-Afghan war of 1878. Their rivalry as well as enmity of power and influence, once again, exhibited when the Russian army, began capturing several oases from Afghanistan and with the deteriorating situation, the all concerned nation made an agreement in 1887 and accepted Afghanistan as a buffer state of Central Asia.
To avoid further tension and likelihood of war, in the year 1895, they established the border between China and Afghanistan, which they both had accepted in 1963. Earlier, in the background of British-Russian strained relations, third Anglo- Afghan war held in 1919 and later Russia, in 1921, signed a nonaggression pact and also extended various help to Afghanistan in the form of aid, aircraft, technical personnel as well as telegraph operators. Thus, to checkmate Russian control and power as well as to protect its empires in the Indian subcontinent, the British waged three Anglo-Afghan Wars respectively in 1839-42, 1878, and 1919.
Background of first Anglo-Afghan war
All the wars with Afghanistan were fought by the army of British India along with Indian forces to protect and promote British interests against the Russian expansion in the Indian subcontinent. The first Anglo-Afghan war began in the background of protracted civil war commenced in 1816 which resulted in the ascending of Dost Mohammad Khan, the most powerful member of the Barakzay clan, in 1826. On account of their rivalry and earlier enmity between Russia and British, they both wanted to take Dost Mohammad into confidence against and in the situation the new Amir of Afghanistan was bound to maintain a balance of policy as well as behavior towards them.
The Britishers were not happy with the Afghan attitude and decided to teach it a lesson by the use of force, although first they tried to negotiate but having failed an invasion was ordered by Lord Auckland, the then governor-general of India, in order to restore the exiled Afghan ruler Shah Shoja to the throne In April 1839, the British army entered Kandahar and Shoja, for a while, was made Amir of Kandahar, followed by Kabul only after one month because the Afghans, in general, neither liked foreign occupation nor imposition of any Amir by a foreign power. In the middle of the war Dost Mohammad was arrested and escaped from prison to return home to fight against the British army but when in a good position, surrendered to the British and deported to India with other family members. It resented extensively in Afghanistan and situation became out of control with large-scale casualties from both sides in the first half of 1842, the new governor -general of India Lord Ellenborough decided to restore Dost Mohammad in the year 1843 as the ruler of Afghanistan.
Situations around second and third wars
As the Anglo-Afghan war was India-based, the situation turned in 1875 when the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli appointed Lord Lytton as the governor-general of India and it was the time when Russian influence in Afghanistan was growing ignoring the British interests. He was asked while nominating that he should be careful about Russian power and influences in Kabul. Keeping in view the point the new British ruler in India ordered to dispatch a mission to Kabul which was refused by Shir Ali Khan, the then Amir and third son of Dost Mohammad, while on the other hand, he permitted Russia’s General Stoletov to enter Kabul. The incident infuriated the British and it launched the second Anglo-Afghan war. The king fled away from the country and died in 1879 thereby giving a clear victory to the British army. A treaty between the two was signed at Gandamak on May 26, 1879, which recognised Ya Qub Khan, the son of Ali, as the Amir of the country, with a commitment to accept the wish and advice of the British in matters of conduct of foreign relations of other countries and there onwards the Britishers wielded a significant amount of influence in the conduct of Afghan foreign policy.
Likewise, the third Anglo-Afghan war erupted in the background of the First World War (1914-1918), when there was immense support for Ottoman Turkey against the British. The Amir of the time Habibullah Khan maintained the policy of non-involvement in the war but on February 20, 1919, he was murdered by a close associate of the British. It followed the coronation of his son Amanullah Khan and in his first address declared Afghan to be total independence from Great Britain. It provoked the British, resulting in the outbreak of the third Anglo-Afghan war which lasted for one month. Ultimately, a peace treaty signed between the two on August 8, 1919, recognised the independent status of Afghanistan.
Demarcation of China-Afghan Border
The Great Game between Russia and Great Britain in Afghanistan continued for centuries and in between their rivalry they, in the year 1895, demarcated the boundary between China and Afghan to avoid further tension in coming days. It is 76-kilometer or 47 miles long beginning at the tripoint of both countries with Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir. It is situated in the far northeast of Afghanistan and away from urban areas along the narrow Wakhan Corridor. From the Chinese side, it is in the Chalachigu Valley and crossed by several mountain passes including Wakhjir Pass in the South and Tigmanshu Pass. This Pass is the main crossing from both sides and it has been in use for a long time. At the time it was demarcated, it was not accepted by either country but later in 1963, China and Afghanistan finally demarcated their boundary. In recent decades and years, Afghanistan has demanded to open the Wakhan Corridor, which China has refused due to unrest in the western province of Xinjiang. In the year 2009 the United States of America has also reportedly asked China to open the Corridor.
Author: Dr. Rajkumar Singh – Professor and Head, Department of Political Science and Dean of Social Sciences at B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura (Bihar), India. His 20 books were published in addition to 900 articles in national and international journals and daily newspapers from 25 foreign countries.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).
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