Abdur Rahman, a cousin of Barakzai ruler…

Abdur Rahman, a cousin of Barakzai ruler Sher Ali Khan, is officially recognized as Amir at the durbar on July 22, 1880, granted assistance in arms and money, and promised, in case of unprovoked foreign aggression, such further aid as might be necessary to repel it, provided that he align his foreign policy with the British.

During the next two decades, Abdur Rahman will wage some twenty small wars against the various ethnolinguistic groups inside Afghanistan to convince them that a strong central government exists in Kabul.

Abdur Rahman had lived in exile in Tashkent, part of Russian Turkestan, for eleven years.

Folllowing the 1879 death of Sher Ali, the Russian governor-general at Tashkent had sent for Abdur Rahman, and pressed him to try his fortunes once more across the Oxus.

In March 1880, a report had reached India that Abdur Rahman was in northern Afghanistan, heartily welcomed by his people; and the governor-general, Lord Lytton, had opened communications with him to the effect that the British government were prepared to withdraw their troops, and to recognize Abdur Rahman as Amir of Afghanistan, with the exception of Kandahar and some districts adjacent to it.

After some negotiations, an interview had taken place between him and Lepel Griffin, the diplomatic representative at Kabul of the Indian government.

Griffin describes Abdur Rahman as a man of middle height, with an exceedingly intelligent face and frank and courteous manners, shrewd and able in conversation on the business in hand.