In his private correspondence Burnes was more scathing, and pointed the finger of blame at Auckland and Macnaghten. “There is nothing here but downright imbecility,” he wrote to his brother-in-law Holland.26 “We are in possession of the cities,” he told his elder brother around the same time, “but have not got the country or the [support of the] people, and have as yet done nothing liberally to consolidate Afghanistan.
