On the whole, his advice, as an earnest friend, is that the advance of a British force on Kabul should be delayed for a short time ('_Panjroz_').

In the interval he will endeavour to disarm the Regular troops, raise new levies, and, by the aid of the latter, punish all concerned in the late abominable outrage.

His idea is to get rid of Sher Ali's soldiery--always a source of danger--and keep only 15,000 men for the future.

It would be very desirable to delay the advance until he could establish his power.

The Amir does not mean to imply that any Afghan army, were it 50,000 strong, could resist the British.