1879 The Afghan position--The fight at Charasia -- Highlanders, Gurkhas, and Punjabis--Defeat of the Afghans -- Kabul in sight--Deh-i-Mazang gorge--The enemy give us the slip The Cavalry having reported that the road through the _sang-i-nawishta_ gorge was impassable, I started off a party[1] before it was fully light on the 6th, to work at it and make it practicable for guns.

I was preparing to follow with an escort of Cavalry to examine the pass and the ground beyond, when the growing daylight discovered large numbers of Afghan troops in regular formation crowning the hills that I ought to have been in a position to occupy the preceding evening.

No hurry, no confusion was apparent in their movements; positions were taken up and guns placed with such coolness and deliberation that it was evident regularly trained troops were employed.

Very soon I received reports of our Cavalry patrols having been fired upon, and of their having been obliged to retire.
Immediate action was imperatively necessary; the Afghans had to be dislodged from their strong position at any cost, or we should have been surrounded by overwhelming numbers.

Their occupation of the heights was, I felt, a warning that must not be disregarded, and a menace that could not be brooked.
Behind this range of hills lay the densely-crowded city of Kabul, with the scarcely less crowded suburbs of Chardeh, Deh-i-Afghan, and numberless villages thickly studded over the Kabul valley, all of which were contributing their quota of warriors to assist the Regular troops in disputing the advance of the British.