Wazīr Akbar Khān (Pashto/Dari: وزير اکبر خان; 1816[citation needed]–1847), born Mohammad Akbar Khān (محمد اکبر خان) and also known as Amīr Akbar Khān (امير اکبر خان), was a Barakzaiprince, 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]
Quick Facts Wazir Akbar Khan وزير اکبر خان, Emir of Afghanistan ...
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]
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]
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]
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]
Noelle, Christine (1997). State and Tribe in Nineteenth Century Afghanistan The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826-1863). Psychology Press. p.15. ISBN9781138982871.
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."
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