No other country fascinates me as Afghanistan, never been there but read, heard and seen a lot of books, stories and movies about Afghanistan. The great Buddhas of Bamiyans (destroyed by Taliban before almost annihilated by the US invasion and Northern Alliance), Kandahar, Begram, Jalalabad and Kabul were the cosmopolitan focii of ever expanding Indian civilization about 1000 years back now they are the epicenters of terrorism, fanatic Islam, dark ages and Opium cultivation.
'Return of A King' is a brilliantly researched book by politically correct and rented Historian (in the context of contemporary India, infact he is a revisionary and a soft neo-imperialist) and organizer of Jaipur Literary Festival - William Dalrymple. I firmly believe History should be read and represented as it occurred and no one should try to write history using the lens of 21st century (or any century) political compulsions of India. My apologies for digressing from the topic. Dalrymple details the history of Afghanistan since the fall of Shah Shuja from the throne of Afghanistan in 1809 and it focuses primarily on his return as the King of Afghanistan in 1840, first Anglo-Afghan war, destruction of General Elphinstone army by the Afghans, selling and maiming of Indian sepoys in the streets of Kabul and in the slave market of Bukhara and abandoning of Indian sepoys to this wretched fate and saving almost all the White Officials and White women by using force and money, retribution carried out by fresh force from India under the leadership of General Pollock and bringing back the pillaged gates of Somnath Temple (looted by Mahmud Ghazni and used in his tomb) to India (in Dec 1842 and ending the first war). William Dalrymple style is very fluid and engaging but he treats Indian Sepoys as "sub-humans" compared to sturdy Afghans and noble Britishers. Perhaps we deserved that then and we deserve this now. When Britishers won any battle it was because of the bravery and leadership of officers but when they lost its because of cowardice of Sepoys and when retribution army came and it started destroying Afghan villages, forts and raping and killing Afghans the entire responsibility of these war crimes were loaded on the heads of Sepoys, after-all a Britisher was a noble person.
This war was an unnecessary war as the Russian threat to British Empire was "non-existent" and thus it resulted in nothing except destruction, killings and loss of face for Britain. When war started (1839) Dost Muhammed was the King of Afghanistan and he again became the King of Afghanistan (in 1843) within a year of the end of war. Shah Shuja was assassinated few months after the inglorious retreat of General Elphinstone army in Jan 1842 (Dr. Brydon and few hundred soldiers/camp followers of British Army were able to reach Jalalabad from Kabul out of more than 15,000 people), Sadozais Princes were expelled from Afghanistan by Barakzais after the end of war and they had to live in destitution in India. Dost Muhammed remained a friend of British and he did not support either The Sikhs in Anglo-Sikhs wars or the Russians in their Great Game proving that the entire British expedition and killings were totally unnecessary.
Highly Recommended (8/10)
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