Ayub Khan, who lost his entire artillery, vast quantities of ammunition, and about 1,000 men killed, became a fugitive along with the small remnants of his army.

These plans for the evacuation were disrupted by Ayub Khan, who after stirring up anti-British feeling,[2] had sallied out of Herat in early June with 10,000 followers.

However many of the Indian troops in British service were new, inadequately trained recruits, and crumpled under pressure; the Afghan levies had already switched sides, unwilling to fight against their countrymen.

After the disastrous defeat at Maiwand, the remnants of General Burrows' battle-wearied army began the 45 mile retreat to the city of Kandahar.

Armed local irregulars, exhaustion and thirst contributed to the breakdown of the column's discipline, and were it not for Captain Slade's rearguard action, far fewer would have made it to the refuge of the city: All over the wide expanse of desert are to be seen men in twos and threes retreating.

[4] —General Donald Stewart, Kabul.The 'Bobs' in question, General Roberts, would personally lead a division from Kabul to rectify the recent calamity and relieve the besieged city of Kandahar.

Because of the unforgiving terrain of the Afghan country, and the necessity of speed, all troops were ordered to travel light (20–30 lbs of kit per trooper) and controversially, no wheeled transport taken, with 6- and 9-pounder mountain guns being the only artillery.

The army paid for everything they took throughout the march including grain, fresh animals and even firewood – the local Afghans more than pleased to barter with the troops.

By the end of the day's march in the early afternoon, the temperatures had exceeded 100 °F with very little shade; sore feet and the constant scarcity of water adding to the extreme discomfort.

"The method, of such marching as was now put in practice is not easy to describe; it combined the extreme of freedom in movement with carefully regulated halts, and the closest control in every portion of the column; it employed the individual intelligence of each man composing the masses in motion, and called on all for exertion in overcoming the difficulties of the march, in bearing its extraordinary toil, and in aiding the accomplishment of the object in view.

It was here that Roberts learned that Ayub Khan had lifted the siege of Kandahar and had retired north to the village of Mazra in the Urgundab valley.

A reconnaissance of the area on the afternoon of the 31st, carried out by General Gough and Colonel Chapman, garnered valuable information of these Afghan positions.

While the Babawali Pass would be bombarded by artillery, 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades (3rd in Reserve) would attack the enemy between the Pir Paimal and Kharoti hills and push up the Urgundab valley towards Ayub Khan's main camp at Mazra.

As General Baker's brigade moved forward into the open it came under artillery fire from the extremity of the Pir Paimal hill and massed attacks from Ghazis; the latter resolutely repelled by the Highlanders and Sikhs.

Despite reinforcements from Ayub Khan's main camp at Mazra, Macpherson stormed the position – Major White's Highlanders in the van supported by the 5th Gurkhas and 23rd Pioneers.

While Macpherson's brigade advanced close under the ridge, Baker's troops swept wider on the left; Colonel Money having been assigned to take possession of the Kharoti hill.

From the northern end of the hill, Colonel Money could see Ayub Khan abandon his camp at Mazra in the face of the advancing forces of Macpherson and Baker.

Roberts had by now ordered MacGregor's 3rd brigade to Pir Paimal village to where he himself and General Ross (commander of the whole infantry division) were to move.

Although the plan for General Gough's cavalry to intercept the retreating Afghans did not work in practice, it was clear the British had achieved a decisive victory.

Many years later, Roberts' heroic march was commemorated by a statue in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park upon which the motto Virtute et valore (by Virtue and Courage) is inscribed.

The Afghan tribes maintained internal rule and local customs, and provided a continuing buffer between the British Raj and the Russian Empire.

[9] Despite attempts from the British to dissuade Afghanistan from Russian influence, Abdur Rahman Khan adopted an autocratic government similar to the Tsars of Russia, inspired by Peter the Great from his time in exile in Turkestan.

Senior British officials found it extremely difficult to further cooperate with Abdur Rahman Khan and Afghanistan due to the Turkestan atrocities, as well as his actions against the Hazaras.

[10] Ayub Khan subsequently raised a fresh rebellion against Abdur Rahman, but was swiftly defeated and taken as a political prisoner by British India.