Britain's Complex Role In The Afghanistan Conflict

Britain has been involved in four wars with Afghanistan. The first Anglo-Afghan War took place between 1839 and 1842, the second between 1878 and 1880, the third in 1919, and the fourth began in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The most recent war in Afghanistan continued for 13 years, with the last British combat troops leaving the country on 26 October 2014. The war spanned the tenures of three prime ministers and cost the lives of 453 British service personnel and thousands of Afghans.

In 2006, British troops were sent to the southern province of Helmand to provide stability and security for reconstruction projects. However, their arrival provoked a violent response from a resurgent Taliban. In 2009, there were 108 fatalities among British troops, more than twice as many as the previous year.

In 2010, David Cameron announced the withdrawal of 500 British troops, and in 2014, British combat troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. Small numbers of British troops continue to help train and advise the Afghan National Security Forces, but they are no longer engaged in active combat operations.

The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842)

In the spring of 1839, the British Army of the Indus, 20,000 strong, marched from India through the Khyber and Bolan passes of the Hindu Kush mountains and into Afghanistan. The invasion force captured Kandahar without a fight and, in July 1839, took the fortress of Ghazni, which guarded the route to Kabul. Dost Mohammad fled the capital, and in August 1839, Shah Shuja was duly installed as the new emir.

The British faced no unified opposition from the Afghan tribal leaders and benefitted from the Afghans having no centralised army. However, the British soon became unpopular with the local population due to rising taxes and inflation, caused by the need to feed the occupying soldiers. The drinking and licentiousness of the occupying forces further inflamed the Islamic population. Local clerics began to call for holy war (jihad) to dispel the occupying force.

Opposition to British rule was successfully fomented by Akbar Khan, the son of Dost Mohammad, following his father's capture. On 2 November 1841, an insurrection broke out in Kabul against the British occupation, resulting in the death of Alexander Burnes, an important political officer of the East India Company. William Hay Macnaghten, another British political agent, was forced to negotiate the British withdrawal from Afghanistan in December.

On 1 January 1842, the British force of 4,500 soldiers and 12,000 camp followers left Kabul and headed for Jalalabad. However, they were attacked by Afghan tribesmen and only a few hundred would survive to return to India. The retreat and destruction of an entire army was one of the worst military disasters in the history of the British Empire.

In September 1842, two British armies converged on Kabul to avenge their losses and restore their pride. They destroyed much of the city, including its renowned Charchatta Bazaar, one of the largest bazaars in Central Asia. The British then withdrew from Afghanistan for a second time. Dost Mohammad was restored to power in 1843.

The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880)

The Second Anglo-Afghan War, fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan, took place from 1878 to 1880. It was part of the "Great Game" of rivalry between the British and Russian empires. The conflict was split into two campaigns.

The first campaign began in November 1878 when a British force of about 50,000 fighting men, mostly Indians, was distributed into three military columns that penetrated Afghanistan at three different points. The British victories at the battles of Ali Masjid and Peiwar Kotal left the approach to Kabul virtually undefended by Afghan troops. The Treaty of Gandamak was signed in May 1879, allowing a British mission in Kabul. However, three months later, on September 3, 1879, 200 members of the British mission were slaughtered, and the conflict resumed.

The second campaign ended in September 1880 when the British decisively defeated Ayub Khan outside Kandahar. Abdur Rahman Khan, who had been an opponent of the British, was invited to be the new Amir and accepted. He ratified and confirmed the Gandamak treaty once more. Having created a buffer between the British Raj and the Russian Empire, British and Indian soldiers then withdrew from Afghanistan.

The Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919)

The Third Anglo-Afghan War, also known as the British-Afghan War of 1919, began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The conflict was sparked by Afghanistan's invasion of British India, with the Emirate of Afghanistan crossing the frontier at the western end of the Khyber Pass and capturing the strategically important town of Bagh. In response, the British Indian government declared war on Afghanistan and ordered a general mobilisation of British and Indian forces.

The root causes of the war can be traced back to the First World War, during which Afghanistan remained neutral despite considerable pressure from the Ottoman Empire to join the conflict. However, Afghanistan did accept a Turkish-German mission in Kabul and military assistance from the Central Powers, and Turkish agents successfully fomented unrest along the frontier. The departure of a large part of the British Indian Army to fight overseas, as well as news of British defeats at the hands of the Turks, further emboldened these efforts.

The British forces, despite being depleted from their involvement in the First World War, were ultimately able to repel the Afghan invasion. Sporadic fighting occurred in the tribal districts of Chitral in the far north, but the main focus of the conflict was on the mountain passes between British India and Afghanistan. The British suffered from low morale and a shortage of men, artillery, and machine guns, but they were still able to defeat a larger Afghan force at Bagh and force them back across the border.

The Treaty of Rawalpindi, signed on 8 August 1919, brought the war to an end and recognised Afghanistan's independence and right to conduct its own foreign affairs. The Durand Line was reaffirmed as the border between the two countries, and the Afghans agreed to stop interfering with the tribes on the British side of the line.

The War in Afghanistan (2001-2014)

The Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate was toppled, and the Islamic Republic was established three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centres by US-led forces, supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. However, Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, relocated to neighbouring Pakistan.

By the end of 2001, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had collapsed, but an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) remained. ISAF's role was to oversee the transition to a new government and provide security for the redevelopment of the war-torn country.

In 2006, as part of a reorganisation of ISAF (now under NATO control), British troops were sent to the southern province of Helmand. Their intended role was to provide stability and security for reconstruction projects, but their arrival provoked a violent response from a resurgent Taliban.

In 2008, the Taliban increasingly began to use Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to target troops in vehicles and on foot patrols. In 2009, there were 108 fatalities among British troops, more than twice as many as the previous year.

In 2010, UK troop numbers reached their peak, with around 10,000 troops deployed across Afghanistan. This was part of the US surge strategy announced by Barack Obama in 2009.

In 2011, Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by US Special Forces. Obama then announced a plan to withdraw 33,000 US troops by summer 2012, and all troops by 2014. NATO transitioned control to Afghan forces in June 2013, and the British combat mission ended with the handover of Camp Bastion to Afghan forces on 26 October 2014. Some British troops remained in Afghanistan in training and advisory roles.

Operation Pitting (2021)

Operation Pitting was a British military operation to evacuate British and eligible Afghan nationals from Afghanistan following the 2021 Taliban offensive. The operation ran from 13 August 2021 to 28 August 2021 and involved more than 1,000 military personnel, including soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade. It was the largest British evacuation since the Second World War and the largest airlift since the Berlin Blockade of 1948-9.

The operation was authorised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and commanded from the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, London. It aimed to evacuate British nationals, embassy staff, and Afghans eligible for relocation under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP). The United States carried out a similar operation, named Operation Allies Refuge.

The operation began with approximately 600 military personnel, some of whom were drawn from the British Army's high-readiness 16 Air Assault Brigade. They were joined by a small team from the Home Office to assist the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Kabul with processing visas and other travel documents. The Royal Air Force provided aircraft for the evacuation.

During the operation, British forces faced several challenges, including managing large crowds of civilians attempting to evacuate and a growing security threat from the Taliban and other groups. Despite these challenges, Operation Pitting successfully evacuated over 15,000 people, including 5,000 British nationals and 8,000 Afghans vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban. The operation marked the end of the UK's 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan.

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