The British East India Company concludes treaties…

The British East India Company concludes treaties with a number of Afghan rulers and with Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sikh ruler of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire.

One of the Afghan rulers, Dost Mohammad Khan, is the son of Sardar Payenda Khan, the Barakzay clan chief put to death by Zaman Shah Durrani.

Dost Mohammad had been raised by his elder brother, the chief of the Barakzai, Fatteh Khan, who had played an important role in raising Mahmud Shah Durrani to the sovereignty of Afghanistan in 1800 and in restoring him to the throne in 1809.

Mahmud Shah, a Sadozai Pashtun, had repaid Fatteh Khan's services by having him assassinated in 1818, thus incurring the enmity of his tribe.

After a bloody conflict, Mahmud Shah had been deprived of all his possessions but Herat, the rest of his dominions being divided among Fatteh Khan's brothers.

Of these, Dost Mohammad had received Ghazni, to which in 1826 he had added ...