Kabul Field Force

[1] The second phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War was set in motion by the murder of the British envoy Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari and his staff in Kabul on 3 September 1879.

Roberts' force moved up the Kurram Valley and towards Kabul, winning various skirmishes and receiving envoys from Emir Ayub Khan denying responsibility for the murders.

[3] In an action at Killa Kazi on 11 December 1879, James Adams, a chaplain to the Force, rescued some men of the 9th Lancers from a ditch while under enemy fire, for which he was later awarded the Victoria Cross.

[7] However, after the July 1880 British defeat at the Battle of Maiwand in southern Afghanistan, Stewart ordered Roberts with 10,000 men to march on Kandahar – creating a separate Kabul-Kandahar Field Force.

[8] The Northern Afghanistan Field Force, still commanded by Stewart, finally returned to India in August 1880 via the Khyber Pass.