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and Jalalabad fell to the lot of Dost Mohammad Khan (1826).
He thus became the most powerful of the Barakzai Sardars.
Five of his half-brothers jointly ruled Kandahar.
Dost Mohammad Khan or the Grand Amir (1826—
1839) : Dost Mohammad Khan is the founder of the Barakzai or
Mohammadzai dynasty, which is still in power. As soon as his
position was secure at Kabul, he made up his mind to recover
Peshawar. Dost Mohammad could not forget that Peshawar
was an integral part of Afghanistan and that the Sikhs had
occupied it during the confusion that followed the death of
Vazir Fateh Khan. He resolved to wrest it from the Sikhs
by force. Assuming the title of Amir-ul-Mominin, (the Leader of
the Faithful) he declared a religious war and called upon his
people to join in his expedition. At their head he advanced
upon Peshawar, but the shrewd Sikh leader, finding himself too
weak to meet him in open field, sowed treason and dissension
in the Amir's camp. The result was that the invading army
melted away and Peshawar was lost to the Amir.
In November 1837, Mohammad Shah of Persia laid siege
to Herat. The Russians, anxious to have the Persians com-
pensate themselves with Afghan territory for Russian conquests
of Persian territories in the Caucasus, supported the Persians.
The British, fearful that Persia was falling completely under
Russian influence, determined to enter into alliances with the
rulers of Herat, Kabul and Kandahar. With this view a
mission was sent to Kabul under Capt. Burnes. Dost Mohammad
Khan was not disinclined to welcome a power from which he
expected support in his attempts to recover Peshawar. But he
was unable to obtain from the envoy the assurances which he
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.