Anglo-Afghan Wars

The Anglo-Afghan Wars were three conflicts fought between Britain and Afghanistan between 1839 and 1919, arising largely from British efforts to keep Afghanistan as a buffer state against Russian influence during the era of great-power rivalry in Central Asia known as the Great Game. The First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839 to 1842, ended in disaster for Britain when an entire British and Indian garrison retreating from Kabul in the winter of 1842 was almost completely destroyed, with only a single survivor reaching British lines at Jalalabad, a catastrophe that shocked British India. The Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878 to 1880, ended more favorably for Britain with the Treaty of Gandamak, which gave Britain control over Afghan foreign policy while leaving internal rule to the Afghan emir. The brief Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 ended with the Treaty of Rawalpindi, under which Britain formally recognized full Afghan independence in foreign affairs, ending the arrangement imposed after the second war.