First Afghan War
He advised Lord Auckland to support Dost Mahommed on the throne of Kabul, but the viceroy preferred to follow the opinion of Sir William Hay Macnaghten and reinstated Shah Shuja, thus leading to the disasters of the First Afghan War. On the restoration of Shah Shuja in 1839, Burnes became regular political agent at Kabul, and remained there until his assassination in 1841, during the heat of an insurrection. The calmness with which he continued at his post long after the imminence of his danger was apparent, and the ferocity with which he fought after the killing of his political assistant Major William Broadfoot (killing six assailants in the process), won him a heroic reputation.
It came to light in 1861 that some of Burnes' dispatches from Kabul in 1839 had been altered so as to convey opinions opposite to his, but Lord Palmerston refused after such a lapse of time to grant the inquiry demanded in the House of Commons. A narrative of his later labours was published in 1842 under the title of Cabool.
He is commemorated in the name of the Rufous-vented Prinia Prinia burnesii.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Burnes
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