Taken from the New Statesman archive, 16 August 1919.

This conflict was over in just three months, concluding very much to Britain’s advantage. The Afghans, however, had issued a reminder that they were formidable adversaries. Sidebotham (1872-1940) was one of the leading military reporters of his day, much admired by Lloyd George, among others. This article, like many in the magazine’s early days, was unsigned, but the writer’s name appears in our contributors’ file. (It is worth remembering that the "Indian Government" he refers to was a distant limb of the imperial government in London.)

Selected by Brian Cathcart