Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan (1825–Feb. 21, 1879) was the Emir (Ruler) of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and again from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was the third son of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan. His older brother, Mohammad Afzal Khan seized the control of Afganistan from 1863-66.
The Great Game, the Russian Bear and the British Lion
In an earlier version of recent history Russia had designs on Afghanistan while Britain hoped to keep them out of the one country that would put their great adversary on the 'doorstep' to their richest colony India. Sher Ali Khan tried to play each against the other and remain neutral in their conflict. In 1878, the neutrality failed and the Second Anglo-Afghan War erupted. As British forces marched on Kabul, Sher Ali Khan left Kabul seeking polical asylum in Russia. He like his father had hoped to return the former Afgani provinces of the Durranis to Afgan and Muslim control. Rather than taking control as a victor he used the tried and true method of winning a toehold in India again by arranging a marriage between one of his daughters and a prominent Tribal Chief of the Gakhars, Khan Bahadur Raja Jahandad Khan. Today the lands the Gakhars held are now part of Pakistan.
An Earlier and Lighter Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan died in Mazar-e Sharif, leaving the throne to his son Mohammad Yaqub Khan.[1] He married One of Sher Ali daughters married a prominent Tribal Chief of the Gakhars, Khan Bahadur Raja Jahandad Khan.
