4th Times the Charm?

Dr. William Brydon - the only British survivor of the first Anglo-Afgan war.

For those of you who are unencumbered with the knowledge of history, this is not the first foray of the British to Afghanistan.  In fact, by all accounts, this is the fourth time the English have come to Afghanistan to attempt hold sway over the natives.

The first was from 1839 to 1842.  The 'Cliff Notes' version goes something like this:
   1)  The British already controlled India, but felt the Russians were trying to invade Afghanistan to expand in central Asia.  (Turns out this probably wasn't the case - but, oh well - Colonialism at it's best).
   2)  The British attempted to get the the leader of Afghanistan (Dost Mohammed) to side with them.  All Dost wanted in return was to get back the disputed area of Peshawar from the Persians.  The British said no.  So what did old Dost do?  He asked the Russians for help.  Ooops.
   3)  The British took umbrage and decided that Dost had to go, so they invaded and installed a puppet named Shuja Shaw Durrani.
   4)  Lord Auckland signed a treaty called 'Simla Manifesto', which basically stated that the British were there to protect Durrani and his troops from other territorial disputes.  But, of course Persia had a pro-Russian dictator and things escalated as they are want to do.
   5)  The British invaded with 21,000 troops, led by Sir John Keane, in December 1838, crossing over the now infamous Khyber Pass.  By 1839 they had passed Kabul, took Kandahar and defeated the Afghan forces at the until-then impregnable fortress at Ghanzi.
   6)  Things were going swimmingly, until October 1841.  By that time there only remained 4,500 British troops.  The new commander, William Eliphistone, in an attempt to increase morale, allowed the soldiers to bring in their families.  Now the British numbered 16,000, but this included women, children and Indian laborers and the Afghans thought the British were trying to set up a permanent occupation and now they were pissed.
   7)  The Afghans began to flock to their new leader, the son of Dost Mohammed, Mohammed Akbar Khan.  A series of attacks began on the small, poorly defended British garrison.  The British had not planned very well and all their supplies were actually across a field 300 meters away from their camp.  It became a long 300 meters.
   8)  Finally, at wits end, William Eliphistone reached an agreement with the Afghan fighters to allow safe passage for their garrison and charges.  Unfortunately, he also gave up their guns.  Oops number 2.
   9)  On January 5th 1842 as the garrison was traveling through snow bound passes they were attacked with their own weapons.  A running battle continued thru two feet of snow until only one British survivor reached remained - Dr. William Brydon.

This all led to:

The 2nd Anglo-Afghan war from 1878-1880.  The 'Cliff Notes' version goes something like this:
   1)  See 1st Anglo-Afgan war.  Repeat as necessary for the 3rd.

As a disclaimer, I support the 'War on Terror', however, knowing history allows us not to repeat it - Alexander the Great, Ghenis Khan, Tabur - all great warriors.  What do they have in common - they all failed to conquer Afghanistan.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this conversation.

Bush:  'We have to invade Afghanistan to ferret all those who would support terrorist organizations'.
Blair:  'I don't know George, maybe just an Air War - no land troops.  We've been there before and it's a rough place'
Bush:  'Don't worry, third times the Charm!'
Blair:  'Wait, what?'

Day 95 BOG, 122 away from home.  All for now.