Editing Great Game (section)

=== Treaty of Gandamak, 1879 ===
After the British Siege of Kabul, warfare was settled diplomatically by the [[Treaty of Gandamak]] of 1879. The British sent an envoy and mission to Kabul, but on 3 September this mission was massacred and the conflict was reignited. The second phase ended in September 1880 when the British [[Battle of Kandahar (1880)|defeated]] Ayub Khan outside [[Kandahar]]. A new Emir, Abdul Rahman Khan who was known to be a Russian ally and an opponent of the British, ratified and confirmed the Gandamak treaty once more. When the British and Indian soldiers had withdrawn, the Afghans agreed to let the British attain most of their geopolitical objectives, as well as create a buffer between the [[British Raj]] and the Russian Empire. The British were aware that Amir [[Abdur Rahman Khan]] had the support of the Afghans to continue fighting and he did not allow a British resident to stay in Kabul which was a British objective that caused the start of the conflict. In return, he accepted British control of Afghanistan's foreign policies while maintaining internal sovereignty and to cede to the British a number of its southern frontier areas, including the districts of [[Pishin, Pakistan|Pishin]], [[Sibi]], [[Harnai]], and [[Thal Chotiali]].<ref name="blood1995" />

In 1881, Russian forces however took [[Battle of Geok Tepe|Geok Tepe]] and in 1884 they occupied [[Merv]].{{sfn|Mahajan|2001|p=13}} As the Russian forces were close to [[Herat]], the British and Russian governments formed a joint Anglo-Russian diplomatic [[Afghan Boundary Commission]] in the same year to define the borders between the Russian Empire and northern Afghanistan.<ref name="yate1887" /><ref name="yate1888" />

In 1885, a Russian force annexed the [[Panjdeh]] district north of Herat province and its fort in what has been called the [[Panjdeh incident]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Robert|date=2003|title="Russians at the Gates of India"? Planning the Defense of India, 1885–1900|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/journal_of_military_history/v067/67.3johnson.html|journal=The Journal of Military History|language=en|volume=67|issue=3|pages=697–743|doi=10.1353/jmh.2003.0230|s2cid=159703966|issn=1543-7795}}</ref> The Afghans claimed that the people of the district had always paid tribute to Afghanistan, and the Russians argued that this district was part of the [[Khanate of Khiva|Khanates of Khiva]] and Merv which they had annexed earlier. The [[Afghan Boundary Commission]] was supposed to have settled the dispute, however the battle occurred before its arrival. The Afghan force of 500 was overwhelmed by superior Russian numbers. Britain did not aid Afghanistan as was required by the Treaty of Gandamak, leading the Amir to conclude that he could not rely on the British in the face of Russian aggression.<ref name="clements2003" />

German Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] saw how important the Great Game had become for Russia and Britain. Germany had no direct stakes, however its dominance of Europe was enhanced when Russian troops were based as far away from Germany as possible. Over two decades, 1871–1890, he maneuvered to help the British, hoping to force the Russians to commit more soldiers to Asia.<ref name=":18">James Stone, "Bismarck and the Great Game: Germany and Anglo-Russian Rivalry in Central Asia, 1871–1890." ''Central European History'' 48.2 (2015): 151–175.</ref> However, Bismarck through the [[League of the Three Emperors|Three Emperors' League]] also aided Russia, by pressuring the Ottoman Empire to block the [[Bosporus]] from British naval access, compelling an Anglo-Russian negotiation regarding Afghanistan.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Jelavich|first=Barbara|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/796911|title=St. Petersburg and Moscow : Tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814–1974|date=1974|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-35050-6|location=Bloomington|pages=200–201|oclc=796911|access-date=4 September 2021|archive-date=24 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202702/https://www.worldcat.org/title/796911|url-status=live}}</ref>