Treaty of Gandamak
Encyclopedia
Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner...
. Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
ceded various frontier areas to Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
to prevent invasion of further areas of the country.
It was signed by the emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
of Afghanistan, Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Mohammad Yaqub Khan was Emir of Afghanistan from February 21 to October 12, 1879. He was the son of the previous ruler, Sher Ali Khan....
and Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari
Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari
Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari KCB CSI , British military administrator, was the son of Count Louis Adolphus Cavagnari, of an old Italian family from Parma in the service of the Bonaparte family, by his marriage in 1837 with an Irish lady, Caroline Lyons-Montgomery...
representing the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
's Government of India
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
on 26 May 1879, at a British army camp near the village of Gandomak, about seventy miles east of Kabul, The treaty was ratified by Lord Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, Viceroy of India, on 30 May 1879.
Most historical writings consider the Treaty of Gandomak as the prelude to the second phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War
Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner...
, 1879-1880.
Background
On 22 July 1878 a RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n delegation arrived in Kabul without the explicit invitation of Ameer Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan was Amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was the third son of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan....
. To counteract the Russian initiative the British, in early August 1878, informed the Amir that he must receive a British mission that included European members "with all becoming honors" .
The mission was denied entry into Afghanistan at the Afghan military post of Ali Masjid in the Khyber pass on 21 September. In retaliation, the British Government of India issued an ultimatum that by 20 November 1878 the Amir must apologize and provide a satisfactory explanation for the insult. Sher Ali's response of 19 November 1878, delayed by the death of his son and heir apparent on 17 August, did not reach the Viceroy until 30 November, and lacked an apology .
On 21 November the British declared war on Afghanistan, occupied the Korram valley and the Paywar pass, and moved its armed forces via the Khaybar pass and Quetta towards Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
and Qandahar, respectively. Unable to offer effective military resistance, on 23 December 1878, the Amir left Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
for Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
, intending to seek Russian aid for the defense of his domains. Sher Ali died on 21 February 1879 near Balkh
Balkh
Balkh , was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan...
and his son, Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Mohammad Yaqub Khan was Emir of Afghanistan from February 21 to October 12, 1879. He was the son of the previous ruler, Sher Ali Khan....
, declared himself Emir of Afghanistan. On 26 May 1879, after preliminary correspondence with Cavagnari and prior to the British withdrawal from most occupied Afghan territories, Muhammad Yaqub's request for permission to visit the British military camp was accepted, and so he proceeded there to sign the Treaty of Gandomak, considered one of the most humiliating ever signed by an Afghan ruler , making the Afghan Amir virtually a feudatory of the British Crown .
Settlements
| "His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and its depen-dencies engages, on the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, to publish a full and complete amnesty, absolving all his subjects from any responsibility for intercourse with the British forces during the war, and to guarantee and protect all persons of whatever degree from any punishment or molestation on that account. His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and its depen-dencies agrees to conduct his relations with Foreign States in accordance with the advice and wishes of the British Government. His Highness the Amir will enter into no engagements with Foreign States, and will not take up arms against any Foreign State, except with the concurrence of the British Government. On these conditions the British Government will support the Amir against any foreign aggression with money, arms, or troops, to be employed in whatsoever manner the British Government may judge best for this purpose. Should British troops at any time enter Afghanistan for the purpose of repelling foreign aggression, they will return to their stations in British territory as soon as the object for which they entered has been accomplished." |
| First section of the treaty |
Under the provisions of the treaty the Amir surrendered control to the British over the foreign relations of Afghanistan and allowed for a British Mission, with European members, to reside in Kabul. Jurisdiction over the Korram and Pishin valleys, the Sibi district, and the Khaybar pass was transferred to the British. The treaty provided for increased commercial contacts and the establishment of a telegraph line between Kabul and British India. Muhammad Yaqub was to receive an annual subsidy of 600,000 rupees and to issue amnesty to all those who had collaborated with the British occupying forces.
The British Mission led by Cavagnari arrived in Kabul on 24 July 1879, but less than two months later Cavagnari and all members of his Mission were massacred when on 3 September 1879 a dissatisfied regiment of the Amir's army from Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
stormed the mission compound.
The massacre set the stage for another British invasion of Afghanistan and the expulsion of Muhammad Yaqub to India. It culminated in the British appointment of Abdur Rahman
Abdur Rahman Khan
Abdur Rahman Khan was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901.The third son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, Abdur Rahman Khan was considered a strong ruler who re-established the writ of the Afghan government in Kabul after the disarray that followed the second...
(ruled 22 July 1880 - 1 October 1901), patrilateral parallel cousin of Yaqub, as Amir of Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman accepted the provisions of the Treaty of Gandamak - with the modification that the British agent and his staff in Kabul would be Indian Muslims.
External links
- Treaty of Gandomak by Muhammad Jamil Hanifi at Khyber.ORG