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who, with his usual unwise leniency, pardoned him again.
The Shah then marched on Kandahar where Vazier Fateh Khan and Mahmud were active. He met the insurgents in the eastern part of the city where Mahmud and his Vazier were defeated and forced to take shelter in the desert of Seistan 1808. The Shah then returned to Peshawar, reaching his destination on the 10th of January, 1809. It was here that he received a British mission headed by Stuart Elphinstone.
The internecine wars, which rent and convulsed the Afghan Empire, were a source of acknowledged security to the British power in the East. Captain Malcolm's mission to Persia was entirely successful. Persia prevented the Afghans from invading India. But British influence at the Court of Persia had by now waned to a great extent. Every year increased the difficulties of the Shah of Persia, and weakened his reliance on the British, who failed to carry out faithfully the terms of the agreement signed with Malcolm. The Shah was beset with danger and needed help. The British were not in a mood to aid him
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