IOR/L/PS/7/47 ff.985-1002

Description

Scope and content : Despatches from the Government of India, Foreign Department (Secret/Frontier) to the Secretary, Political and Secret Department, India Office, dated Simla 28 July 1886, forwarding for the attention of ther Secretary of State for India, a letter from Mirza Yakub Ali Khan, to the Governor-General's Agent in Baluchistan, dated Herat 8 June 1886; and Kabul Newsletters Nos. 54, 55 and 56, dated 6, 9 and 13 July 1886 respectively, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Ataulla Khan, British Agent at Kabul.Mirza Yakub Ali Khan's letter records his arrival in Herat on 30 May and describes the condition of the Citadel and progress on fortifying the city: 'The work of fortifying Herat [against possible Russian hostilities], such as building the Khakistar tower and Musalla, which remained unfinished, still continues. He also gives some news of the work of the Afghan Boundary Commission and the continued Russian claim over the sarbands of Khoja Ali and Sainali canals.From Kabul, among other matters, Ataulla Khan describes the Amir's inspection of his troops, at which he showed the newswriter a 'gun [that] has been made here without the help of any machine.'