Amir Yakhub Khan's camp, where the Treaty of Gandamak was signed, Jafed Sing, May 1879

Photograph by John Burke, 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880), 1879.

In February 1879 Yakub Khan succeeded his father, Sher Ali, as amir of Afghanistan. With the fighting the previous year having established British troops in Kandahar, the Kurram Valley and Jellalabad, Yakub Khan decided to negotiate. On 8 May 1879 he arrived at Gandamak in eastern Afghanistan to sign a peace treaty with the British. To impress upon him the extent of Britain's military power, the road by which he approached Gandamak was lined with troops; in all, 4750 men were on parade. By the Treaty of Gandamak, signed on 26 May, Yakub Khan ceded the Kurram Valley and Khyber Pass, and by accepting a British mission to Kabul, surrendered control of Afghanistan's foreign policy.

From an album of 61 photographs, 1878-1880 compiled by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Archibald Mercer (1847-1923), 4th Gurkha Regiment.