The regiment was posted to Afghanistan in 1878 and marched through the Khyber Pass in March 1879 as part of the cavalry brigade led by General Hugh Henry Gough. Following the murder of the British ambassador and his guards at Kabul in September 1879, the regiment saw action at the Battle of Charasiab in October 1879 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The commanding officer of the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Cleland, was killed while leading a charge at the Battle of Killa Kazi in December 1879. Major-General Frederick Roberts described the ensuing events: