British Interventions in Afghanistan and the Afghans’ Struggle to Achieve Independence (1838-1921)

Abstract

The British loss of the thirteen colonies upon the American independence in 1783 moved Britain to concentrate her efforts on India. Lying between the British and Russian empires as part of the Great Game, Afghanistan grew important for the Russians, for it constituted a gateway to India. As a result, the British wanted to make of Afghanistan a buffer state to ward off a potential Russian invasion of India. Because British-ruled India government accused the Afghan Amir of duplicity, she intervened in Afghanistan in 1838 to topple the Afghan Amir, Dost Mohammad and re-enthrone an Afghan ‘puppet’ king named Shah Shuja. The British made their second intervention in Afghanistan (1878- 1880) because the Anglo-Russian rivalry persisted. The result was both the annexation of some of the Afghans’ territory and the confiscation of their sovereignty over their foreign policy. Unlike the British first and second interventions in Afghanistan, the third one, even though short, was significant because it was instigated by the Afghan resistance. Imbued with nationalist and Pan-Islamist ideologies, the Afghans were able to free their country from the British domination. As a result, Afghanistan got its full independence in 1921.