S. Ghilzai
February 3, 2016
Mohammad Yaqub Khan was an Afghan Emir.
Mohammad Yaqub Khan was born in 1849, into the Pashtun Barakzai dynasty- his father was the then Emir, Sher Ali Khan. During his father’s reign, Yaqub Khan was made the governor of Herat Province, until he was imprisoned in 1874 for trying to rebel against his father. When the Second Anglo-Afghan War began in 1878, Sher Ali Khan was forced to flee Kabul. A few months later he had died and, as his successor, Yaqub Khan was made the new Emir of Afghanistan. Yaqub Khan was Emir only from February 1879 to October 1879, since upon inheriting the throne, Yaqub Khan proceeded to sign the Treaty of Gandamak with the British Empire, giving the Empire complete control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs. The people of Afghanistan were not happy, and for fear of an uprising, Yaqub Khan abdicated. He died in 1923.
