Dost Mahommed Khan (1793 - June 9, 1863) founded the Barakzai dynasty in
Afghanistan.
His elder brother, the chief of the Barakzai, Fatteh Khan, took an important
part in raising Mahmud Shah to the sovereignty of Afghanistan in 1800 and in
restoring him to the throne in 1809. Mahmud repaid Fatteh Khan's services by
having him assassinated in 1818, thus incurring the enmity of his tribe.
After a bloody conflict, Mahmud was deprived of all his possessions but
Herat, the rest of his dominions being divided among Fatteh Khan's brothers.
Of these, Dost Mahommed received Ghazni, to which in 1826 he added Kabul,
the richest of the Afghan provinces.
From the commencement of his reign he found himself involved in disputes
with Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of the Punjab, who used the dethroned
Saduzai prince, Shuja-ul-Mulk, as his instrument. In 1834 Shuja made a last
attempt to recover his kingdom. He was defeated by Dost Mahommed under the
walls of Kandahar, but Ranjit Singh seized the opportunity to annex
Peshawar. The recovery of this fortress became the Afghan amir's great
concern.
Rejecting overtures from Russia, he endeavoured to form an alliance with
England, and welcomed Alexander Burnes to Kabul in 1837. Burnes, however,
was unable to prevail on the governor-general, Lord Auckland, to respond to
the amir's advances. Dost Mahommed was enjoined to abandon the attempt to
recover Peshawar, and to place his foreign policy under British guidance. In
return he was only promised protection from Ranjit Singh, of whom he had no
fear. He replied by renewing his relations with Russia, and in 1838 Lord
Auckland set the British troops in motion against him.
In March 1839 the British force under Sir Willoughby Cotton advanced through
the Bolan Pass, and on April 26 it reached Kandahar. Shah Shuja was
proclaimed amir, and entered Kabul on August 7, while Dost Mahommed sought
refuge in the wilds of the Hindu Kush. Closely followed by the British, Dost
was driven to extremities, and on November 4, 1840 surrendered as a
prisoner. He remained in captivity during the British occupation, during the
disastrous retreat of the army of occupation in January 1842, and until the
recapture of Kabul in the autumn of 1842.
He was then set at liberty, in consequence of the resolve of the British
government to abandon the attempt to intervene in the internal politics of
Afghanistan. On his return from Hindustan, Dost Mahommed was received in
triumph at Kabul, and set himself to re-establish his authority on a firm
basis. From 1846 he renewed his policy of hostility to the British and
allied himself with the Sikhs. However, after the defeat of his allies at
Gujarat on February 21, 1849, he abandoned his designs and led his troops
back into Afghanistan. In 1850 he conquered Balkh, and in 1854 he acquired
control over the southern Afghan tribes by the capture of Kandahar.
On March 30, 1855 Dost Mahommed reversed his former policy by concluding an
offensive and defensive alliance with the British government. In 1857 he
declared war on Persia in conjunction with the British, and in July a treaty
was concluded by which the province of Herat was placed under a Barakzai
prince. During the Indian Mutiny, Dost Mahommed refrained from assisting the
insurgents. His later years were disturbed by troubles at Herat and in
Bokhara. These he composed for a time, but in 1862 a Persian army, acting in
concert with Ahmad Khan, advanced against Kandahar. The old amir called the
British to his aid, and, putting himself at the head of his warriors, drove
the enemy from his frontiers. On May 26 1863 he captured Herat, but on the
9th of June he died suddenly in the midst of victory, after playing a great
role in the history of Central Asia for forty years. He named as his
successor his son, Shir Ali Khan.
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The End. Jan 10 2005