Interesting and much-needed biography of Alexander Burnes who discovered Bokhara and died a gruesome death (witnessed by none other than Harry Flashman; no other witnesses lived to tell the tale) during the short-lived British occupation of the world's worst country, Afghanistan during the first Afghan war.
The book describes Burnes's Scottish background in some detail. At 16, Burnes ended up in India where he spent much of the 1820s in a dusty corner of what is now Northwest India. He finally got noticed by exploring the Thar desert (in what is now Rajasthan) and doing useful 'political' work: building up relationships with local rulers and using these for all sorts of good ends, such as reducing banditry in the region. His next target was the Indus river, which he proved easily navigable, while again doing useful work in encouraging the emirs of Sind to accept the East India Company as their protector. Celebrity only followed when he traveled much further, through Ranjit Singh's Sikh state and Afghanistan to the then impossibly exotic city of Bokhara.
The major part of the book deals with the run-up to the first Afghan war. Burnes is sent again to 'Cabool' where he becomes convinced that there is an imminent Russian threat. He advises against a British scheme for regime change meant to turn Afghanistan into a reliable ally against the Russians, but the powers that be ignore him and decide to invade. Rather than throwing in the towel, Burnes loyally joins the invasion force as a political officer and tries to make the best of it - with dramatic consequences.
This is a very good, thorough, well-researched and well-written biography that I greatly enjoyed. The author, a notorious left-winger, Scottish separatist and ruthless human rights fanatic, makes no attempt at all to hide his righteous indignation at the British (and in fact, to a large extent, Scottish) involvement in India and surroundings two centuries ago. Oddly, this does not in any way irritate or distract - in fact, his many waspy comments on the perceived failings of British colonial rule are mostly enjoyable. All in all, highly recommended. On to the next book by a left-wing Scotsman: William Dalrymple's "Return of a King".
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