Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42

by William Dalrymple

a more serious obstacle to the war now confronted the gathering armies. To Auckland’s embarrassment, in the midst of all the preparations for the invasion, news came that the Persians, alarmed by the British naval occupation of the island of Kharg, had unexpectedly abandoned the siege of Herat and withdrawn to Mashhad. Soon afterwards came confirmation that Count Nesselrode in St. Petersburg had also given way, this time to diplomatic pressure from the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, in London. Count Simonitch, the author of the entire Russian diplomatic campaign to outflank the British in Persia and Afghanistan, was to be sacrificed—removed from his job as ambassador to the Persian court on the grounds that he had exceeded his instructions.