On 3 September 1879 Sir Pierre Cavagnari, the British Resident in Kabul, and his escort were massacred by mutinous Afghan troops, initiating the second phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

With Kabul itself vulnerable to attack, Roberts based his force in the unfinished Sherpur Cantonment, a mile north of the city.

While a strong response to the murders was considered necessary, the resultant public executions helped unite Afghan opposition against the British presence.

[3] At the end of November, an army of tribesmen under the command of Mohammed Jan Khan Wardak, who had denounced Amir Mohammad Yaqub Khan as a British puppet and instead declared Musa Jan the new amir, gathered in the area north of Kabul.

As news of a relief column under the command of Brigadier General Charles Gough reached Mohammed Jan, he ordered his troops to storm the cantonment on 23 December.