Wazir Akbar Khan

Wazīr Akbar Khān (Pashto/Dari: وزير اکبر خان ; 1816-1847), born Mohammad Akbar Khān (محمد اکبر خان) and also known as Amīr Akbar Khān (امير اکبر خان), was a Barakzai prince, general, emir for a year, and finally wazir/heir apparent to Dost Mohammad Khan until his death in 1847. His fame began with the 1837 Battle of Jamrud, while attempting to regain Afghanistan's second capital Peshawar from the Sikh Empire.[1][2]

For the neighborhood in Kabul named after him, see Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul.
For other people named Akbar Khan, see Akbar Khan (disambiguation).
Wazir Akbar Khan
وزير اکبر خان
Ghazi
A drawing of Akbar Khan by Vincent Eyre
Emir of Afghanistan
ReignMay 1842 – 1843
PredecessorShuja Shah Durrani
SuccessorDost Mohammad Khan
Born1816
Mazar-i-Sharif, Durrani Empire
DiedSeptember 1847 (aged 31)
Jalalabad, Emirate of Afghanistan
Burial
Blue Mosque, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan
HouseBarakzai dynasty
FatherDost Mohammad Barakzai
MotherMermən Khadija Popalzai
ReligionSunni Islam
Military career
Battles/warsStandoff at the Khyber Pass (1834–1835)
Battle of Jamrud
Kabul Expedition (1842)
1842 retreat from Kabul
Battle of Gandamak
Dost Mohammad's Campaign to Jalalabad (1834)

Wazir Akbar Khan was militarily active in the First Anglo-Afghan War, which lasted from 1839 to 1842. He is prominent for his leadership of the national party in Kabul from 1841 to 1842, and his massacre of Elphinstone's army at the Gandamak pass before the only survivor, the assistant surgeon William Brydon, reached the besieged garrison at Jalalabad on 13 January 1842. Wazir Akbar Khan became the emir of Afghanistan in May 1842, and ruled until Dost Mohammad Khan's return in 1843. In 1847 Wazir Akbar Khan died of cholera.[3]

Early life

Akbar was born to an Afghan family as Mohammad Akbar Khan in 1816 to Dost Mohammad Khan, the future ruler of Afghanistan. His mother was Mermən Khadija Popalzai. Dost Mohammad Barakzai had 16 wives, 27 sons (including Wazir Akbar Khan) and 25 daughters.[4]

Adult life
Further information: First Anglo-Afghan War

in 1834, Akbar Khan partook in the campaign to Jalalabad, led by his father, Dost Mohammad Khan.[5] Following this, in December 1834, he advanced into the Khyber pass, skirmishing with different Sikh outposts on a number of occasions before meeting Hari Singh Nalwa in battle. The Sikhs were defeated, suffering around 150 dead and wounded, forcing their withdrawal to Peshawar.[6]

In 1837 Dost Mohammad Barakzai's Muslim forces, under the command of his son Wazir Akbar Khan, fought the Sikhs at the Battle of Jamrud, fifteen kilometers west of present-day Peshawar.[1][7] Dost Mohammad Khan did not follow up this battle by retaking Peshawar, however, but instead contacted Lord Auckland, the new British governor-general in India, for help in fighting the Sikh Empire. With this letter, Dost Mohammad formally set the stage for British intervention in Afghanistan, which would lead to the so-called "Great Game" with Imperial Russia for control over influence in Afghanistan.[2]

Akbar Khan led a revolt in Kabul against the British Indian mission of William McNaughten, Alexander Burnes and their garrison of 4,500 men. In November 1841, he besieged Major-General William Elphinstone's force in Kabul.

Elphinstone accepted a safe-conduct for his British force and about 12,000 Indian camp followers to Peshawar; they were ambushed and annihilated in January 1842. At least one set of British war memoirs bore witness to Akbar Khan’s double dealing, saying that, during the retreat, Akbar Khan could be heard alternately commanding his men, in Persian to desist from, and in Pashto to continue, firing.[8]

Portrait of Akbar Khan on horseback in the Illustrated London News, 1842

In May 1842, Akbar Khan captured Bala Hissar in Kabul and became the new emir of Afghanistan.[1] When Dost Mohammad Khan returned and became the emir in 1843, Akbar Khan was such in a powerful position that he managed to become the wazir and heir apparent to Dost Mohammad. In September 1847 there was a cholera outbreak in Kabul. Akbar Khan contracted the disease and died shortly after.[3]

Wazir Akbar Khan Grave.

In fiction

The historical figure Akbar Khan plays a major role in George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman.

See also

References
  1. Adamec, Ludwig W. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Scarecrow Press. p. xxi. ISBN 978-0-8108-7957-7. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  2. "THE GREAT GAME". Library of Congress Country Studies. 1997. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
  3. Lee, Jonathan L. (2019-01-15). Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-010-1.
  4. Amin, H. Tarzi (1995). "DŌST MOḤAMMAD KHAN". Encyclopedia Iranica.
  5. Noelle, Christine (1997). State and Tribe in Nineteenth Century Afghanistan The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826-1863). Psychology Press. p. 15. ISBN 9781138982871.
  6. Sandhu, Autar Singh (1935), General Hari Singh Nalwa, Lahore: Cunningham Historical Society, p. 62
  7. Lee, Jonathan (2019), Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present, Reaktion Books, p. 210, ISBN 9781789140101, "The Sikhs had beaten the Afghans but in the battle Hari Singh, Ranjit's lifelong friend, had been mortally wounded."
  8. Hopkirk, Peter (1990). The Great Game. Oxford University Press. pp. 263–264. ISBN 0-19-282799-5.
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