Editing Great Game (section)

===Protocol Between Great Britain and Russia 1885===
{{Further|Panjdeh Incident}}

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On 10 September 1885, the Delimitation Protocol Between Great Britain and Russia was signed in London. The protocol defined the boundary from the Oxus to the Harirud and was later followed by 19 additional protocols providing further detail between 1885 and 1888.<ref name=geographer1983/> The Afghan Boundary Commission agreed that Russia would relinquish the farthest territory captured in their advance, but retain Panjdeh. The agreement delineated a permanent northern Afghan frontier at the Amu Darya, with the loss of a large amount of territory, especially around Panjdeh.<ref name=yate1887/><ref name=yate1888/>

This left the border east of Lake [[Zorkul]] in the [[Wakhan]] region to be defined. This territory was claimed by [[Qing Dynasty|China]], Russia and Afghanistan. In the 1880s, the Afghans had advanced north of the lake to the [[Alichur]] Pamir.<ref name=middleton2005/>{{rp|p13}} In 1891, Russia sent a military force to this area and its commander, Yanov, ordered the British Captain [[Francis Younghusband]] to leave [[Bozai Gumbaz]] in the [[Little Pamir]]. The Russians claimed that because they had annexed the [[Khanate of Kokand]] they had a claim over the Pamirs. Afghanistan claimed that the region never paid tribute to Kokand and was independent, so having annexed it the region was theirs. The British claimed that this was a breach of the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1873. Unfortunately for Britain, the Indian government pointed out that Bozai Gumbaz was not included in the Agreement and so it was in an undefined zone. Bozai Gumbaz had not appeared on the Russian map as being in Wakhan. Additionally, the British became aware that Younghusband had mistakenly entered Russian territory near [[Karakul (Tajikistan)|Kara Kul]] and could have been arrested by the administrator there. Yanov offered a verbal apology if he had mistakenly entered the Wakhan territory, and the Russian government proposed a joint survey to agree on a border.{{sfn|Ewans|2012|pp=123–135}}

In 1892, the British sent [[Charles Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore]] to the Pamirs to investigate. Britain was concerned that Russia would take advantage of Chinese weakness in policing the area to gain territory.<ref name=middleton2005/>{{rp|p14}} Murray was engaged in some form of diplomacy or espionage but the matter is not clear,<ref>Robert Middleton, Huw Thomas, and Markus Hauser. ''Tajikistan and the High Pamirs'', Odyssey Books, p. 476</ref> and in 1893 reached agreement with Russia to demarcate the rest of the border, a process completed in 1895.<ref name=middleton2005/>{{rp|p14}}