The jezail or jezzail is a simple, cost-efficient and often handmade long arm commonly used in South Asia and parts of the Middle East in the past. It was popular amongst the Pashtun tribesmen, who deposed Shah Shuja. Jezails were primarily used in the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars by Pashtuns.
Lithograph dated during the First Anglo-Afghan War of a Pashtun tribesmen (from the Ghizai tribe) and his jezail.
Group of Pashtun Tribesmen (Afridi) fighters in 1878, pictured with their jezails, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
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.
