The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan (Barakzai) and former King Shah Shujah (Durrani), whom they reinstalled upon occupying Kabul in August 1839. The main British Indian force occupied Kabul and endured harsh winters. The force and its camp followers were almost completely massacred during the 1842 retreat from Kabul.
Lithograph depicting British-Indian force storming the fortress during the Battle of Ghazni, 23 July 1839
Sir – I – Khajur in the Bolan Pass, 1839
The Opening in to the Narrow Path above the Siri Bolan from James Atkinson's Sketches in Afghaunistan
Dost Mohammad Khan’s surrender in 1840 following his victory at Parwan Darra.
Emir Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai, nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became the Emir of Afghanistan in 1826. An ethnic Pashtun, he belonged to the Barakzai tribe. He was the 11th son of Payendah Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.
Dost Mohammad Khan in The World's Inhabitants by George Thomas Bettany
Portrait of Payendah Khan Barakzai father of Emir Dost Mohammad Khan
Khan with his one son.
Khan with his 3 sons.