Mohammad Yaqub Khan

Mohammad Yaqub Khan Barakzai was Emir of Afghanistan from 21 February to 12 October 1879. A Pashtun, he was a son of the previous ruler Sher Ali Khan and a grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Barakzai dynasty. In his brief reign he signed the Treaty of Gandamak with Britain; he then abdicated and was exiled to India, where he remained until his death in 1923. ^{1 2}

Yaqub Khan was born in 1849. The English article's infobox places his birth at the Citadel of Ghazni, while the Urdu article gives Kabul; the two conflict and neither is preferred here. His mother was Qamar Jan, a daughter of Sa'adat Khan Mohmand. In 1863 he was appointed governor of Herat province, though still a youth. ^{1 2}

In 1870 Yaqub Khan decided to rebel against his father Sher Ali Khan. The attempt failed, and in 1874 he was imprisoned, remaining in confinement until the war set him on the throne. ¹

The Second Anglo-Afghan War erupted in 1878. Sher Ali Khan fled the capital and died in the north of the country in February 1879, and Yaqub succeeded him as emir on 21 February 1879. In May 1879 he travelled to Gandamak, a village just outside Jalalabad, and negotiated with the British envoy Cavagnari; under the resulting Treaty of Gandamak he ceded territories to the British, relinquished sole control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs to the British Empire, and accepted a British envoy resident in Kabul. ^{1 2}

Cavagnari took up his post in Kabul in July 1879. In September, Afghan troops who had not been paid by the Amir rebelled and attacked the Residency, killing Cavagnari and his mission. The war resumed; British troops returned and occupied Kabul. Yaqub Khan abdicated on 12 October 1879, taking refuge in the British camp, and was sent to India in December. ¹

He remained in his Indian exile for the rest of his life and died on 15 November 1923. The English article gives Shimla as the place of his death and the Urdu article Delhi; the Urdu article alone records his burial at Kabul. ^{1 2}

He is quoted as telling a British viceroy of India: "I would rather work as your servant, cut grass and tend your garden than be the ruler of Afghanistan." ¹

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