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Yakub Khan

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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YAKUB KHAN (1849-), ex-amir of Afghanistan, son of the amir Shere Ali, was born in 1849. He showed great ability at an early age, and was made governor of Herat by his father, but broke into open rebellion against him in 1870, and was imprisoned in 1874 in Kabul. However, when Shere Ali in 1878 fled before the British, he handed over the government to Yakub, who, on his father's death in the following February, was proclaimed amir, and signed a treaty of peace with the British at Gandamak. He agreed to receive a British resident, and was in turn to receive a subsidy and support against foreign attack. But in September of the same year his revolted troops attacked the British residency, and the resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his staff and suite were cut to pieces. This outrage was instantly avenged, for in October Earl (then Sir Frederick) Roberts with a large force defeated the Afghans on the 6th and took possession of Kabul on the 12th. Yakub Khan thereupon abdicated, took refuge in the British camp, and was sent to India on the 13th of December.