Dates: 1813-45

Akbar led Afghan forces to victory against two redoubtable foes, the Sikhs and the British. He proved to be a formidable political force as well as a talented military commander.

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Muhammad Akbar Khan was the son of Dost Mohammed, Emir of Afghanistan. Little is known of his early life, but he was already an experienced military commander prior to the First Afghan War (1839-1842), having played a leading role in the Afghan attempts to recapture Peshawar (seized by the Sikhs in 1834). He fought at several battles, including Jamrud in 1837, an engagement that witnessed the death of Hari Singh Nalwa, the Sikh commander.

Afghanistan’s position between the Russian Empire and India meant that the British were anxious to ensure that a pro-British emir was on the Kabul throne. Fearful of a Russian invasion of India, in 1837 they sent an envoy to Kabul to gain the support of Dost Mohammed. The latter was in favour of an alliance, but when the British refused to help him regain Peshawar, he prepared to talk to the Russians, who sent an envoy to Kabul. This led Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, to conclude that Dost Mohammed was anti-British. The decision was taken to ally with the Sikhs and replace him with a former ruler, Shah Shuja.

In spring 1839 the 12,000 strong British-Indian ‘Army of the Indus’ forced the Bolan Pass and captured Kandahar without a fight. The lack of opposition was because the Afghans mistakenly assumed that the main invasion would come from their old foes the Sikhs via the Khyber Pass. Accordingly, their best troops had been stationed there under Akbar Khan, but they were caught off balance. Soon after the fortress of Ghazni was seized by the British. Dost Mohammed fled from Kabul and Shah Shuja was enthroned.

Many British troops were sent back to India after Shah Shuja's installation, but at Kabul the garrison was swelled by thousands of servants and camp-followers. Popular opposition to Shah Shuja, the arrogant behaviour of British officials and the withdrawal of allowances to the tribes increased Afghan resentment.

By the winter of 1841 the situation was so bad that the garrison had evacuated the city and moved into a camp outside. This cantonment was ill-equipped, poorly provisioned and in the end besieged. On 23 December the political envoy Sir William MacNaghten was shot by Akbar Khan and hacked to pieces by his followers. As unrest spread, the British commander General William Elphinstone negotiated a withdrawal with Akbar.

The Kabul garrison began its journey through the mountains to Jalalabad on 6 January 1842. The column included about 4,000 troops and 12,000 civilians. Narrow mountain paths, snow and freezing conditions slowed progress. Akbar Khan commanded the pursuing Afghans and was wounded in the fighting. His men and the local hill tribes attacked at every opportunity. Any evacuees spared by the Afghans were killed by the weather. A handful of Indian soldiers got through, but only one European reached Jalalabad, Dr William Brydon.

Akbar also took hostage several Europeans who he hoped to use as a bargaining tool. It is unlikely that he wanted to completely destroy the Kabul force, knowing that the British would exact revenge for such a humiliation. Allowing the British to extricate themselves from Afghanistan would give him the time to consolidate his rule over the hill tribes. However, during the retreat he failed to control these tribes, who were intent on wiping out the British.

Following the British withdrawal Shah Shuja fled to the Bala Hissar fortress outside Kabul. In April he left this refuge and was killed by Akbar Khan’s supporters. Akbar then installed Shah Shuja’s son Fateh Jang as emir, but his power was non-existent. Akbar, who also confiscated much of the prince’s wealth, held the real power as wazir (chief minister). He hoped Fateh Jang would be a useful but temporary figurehead who would unite most of the tribes and possibly satisfy the British as well.

Following the destruction of the Kabul garrison, Akbar laid siege to Major-General Robert Sale’s brigade at Jalalabad. The British garrison withstood his assaults until April 1842 when the Afghans retired. This was partly as a result of Sale’s own sorties, including a well-planned and successful attack on Akbar’s lines on 7 April, and partly upon the approach of Major-General George Pollock’s ‘Army of Retribution’, recently sent from India.

Akbar still hoped to strike a deal with the British but when he realised that they intended marching on Kabul he led his army through the Khoord-Kabul Pass to the Tezeen Valley. The Afghans occupied the heights around the valley but a series of attacks on 12 and 13 September 1842 drove them back in disarray. This victory opened the way to the capital.

Despite Akbar’s harassing attacks on his flanks and rear, Pollock reached Kabul in September. There he was joined by Major-General Sir William Nott's Kandahar garrison. After destroying the bazaar, the two armies left for India in October 1842. Because of Pollock’s and Nott’s actions, the war was announced as a success, but it had been a disaster. Dost Mohammed, who had handed himself into British custody in November 1840, was released. He returned to Afghanistan and resumed the throne.

Akbar subsequently became Dost Mohammed’s wazir, but died in suspicious circumstances in 1845, with many suspecting that his father, who feared his ambitions, had poisoned him. In Afghanistan today many revere Akbar as a national hero who defeated the Sikhs and then skilfully united the disparate tribes to drive out the British. For the latter he was a formidable opponent, but also a chivalrous one who often treated his captives with great honour.