wounded among the fighting upon his first attempt at storming, as a result, he abandoned the stronghold. The following morning, Sale marched into the stronghold, ordering it and its crops, orchards, and vineyards to be razed and burned. Yet Sale's storming of the stronghold was rather unneeded, as prior to the assault, Ghulam Khan had secured Mir Masjidi's allegiance, alongside Mir Hajji and Khoja Abd’al-Khaliq. This was due to the fact that they did not owe allegiance to Dost Mohammad, in-fact, they were indebted to the Sadozai dynasty who had helped bring them to rule in the region under Zaman Shah Durrani. And now, having heard of Sale's attack on Jalgah, Mir Masjidi accused Ghulam Khan and the British of perfidy, fully defecting to Dost Mohammad's side alongside a group of pirs. In early October 1840, Dost Mohammad arrived in Nijrab to command his army. Sale, seeking to force an open battle with Dost Mohammad, moved across the Panjshir, razing many local villages and their crops, orchards, and vineyards. At the same time, Sale overstretched his line of communication, and supply lines. When Sale reached the village of Kah Darra, the rebels abandoned it after brief fighting, to which, many local village leaders and elders came to Sale to show their allegiance. Despite this, Sale ordered the burning of Kah Darra's 800 houses, razing the entire village alongside its crops, vineyards, and orchards. This action of brutality that was meant to inspire dread and fear however, backfired, as Saif-al-din's nephew, who was the leader of a Kohistani regiment under Shah Shuja was brought the news, he defected with a large amount of men, including nearly all the Durrani Cavalry. On 2 November 1840, Dost Mohammad finally confronted Sale's forces, halting his advance and engaging battle at Parwan Darra. Dost Mohammad held a strong defensive position, with his forces dug in on a ridge overlooking Sale's advance. Sale sent Captain Fraser and his Bengal horse force to attack the enemy infantry, however, only a handful of men followed the order, leaving the British officers to charge against the Afghan force alone and essentially without any support. Dr Lord, earlier political officer of Bamiyan who offered Dost Mohammad terms of surrender was killed amongst this fighting that broke out. Fortunately, Fraser survived this charge and returned to British lines, however, with his sabre nearly severed at the wrist. Dost Mohammad, seeing what