IOR/L/PS/5/138

The volume contains copies of secret correspondence relating to the British-led invasion of Afghanistan in 1839. The letters and memoranda cover the period beginning with the landing of the so-called Army of the Indus in Sinde [Sindh, also written as Scinde] in late 1838 to its arrival in Candahar [Kandahar].

Principal correspondents include: Henry Whitelock Torrens, Secretary to the Governor-General; William Hay Macnaghten, Envoy and Minister to the Court of Shah Shooja [Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk]; Lieutenant Elliott D'Arcy Todd, in charge of the British Mission to Caboul [Kabul, also written as Cabool]; Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Burnes, British Envoy to Kelat; Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Mackeson, Agent at Peshawar; Major-General Willoughby Cotton, Commander of the Bengal Division of the Army of the Indus; Major-General Sir John Keane, Commander in Chief of the Bombay Army; Thomas Herbert Maddock, Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, with the Governor General; and Lieutenant-General Henry Pottinger, Resident at Sinde. Other correspondents include local rulers (including those of Herat, Khyrpoor [Khairpur], and Kelat), British and 'Native' Agents in the region, officers of the Commissariat, representatives of the treasury in Delhi, and several political, military, and diplomatic officers of the East India Company.

Matters covered by the papers include:

• Supply, carriage, and communication, including road surveys and the navigation and bridging of the Indus River
• Financial matters, including the transferral of funds to pay for supplies and subsidies
• Appointment and payment of officers
• Intelligence on the activities of Russians and hostile individuals and groups in the region
• Progress of the army
• Relations with the rulers of Sinde, Herat, Khyrpoor, and Bhawalpoor [Bahawalpur].

The volume includes a letter to Kamran Shah in transliterated Dari (folios 474-477).