https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/m...oops-dgf8f8c7f
Maiwand, the Afghan site of a British massacre, looted by US troops
In the dust and heat of the Afghan plain a band of heavily outnumbered British soldiers fought to the last against thousands of tribesmen armed with scimitars and shotguns. At the Battle of Maiwand on July 27, 1880, 969 British and Indian soldiers were killed. Many were later buried where they had fallen.
Almost 140 years later the ghosts of one of the bloodiest defeats in British military history have returned to haunt the western powers whose attempts to tame the Afghan wilds still continue. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed last week that it has presented the Pentagon with evidence that Maiwand’s historic 19th-century battlefield was looted by US soldiers on deployment in 2009. Personal possessions and military items that were buried alongside the victims of the battle were sent to America and sold to collectors. Some of the sold items have turned up online. “We condemn the improper removal of objects from historic sites,” the MoD said.
The defeat at Maiwand caused an outcry in Victorian Britain, despite the stories that later emerged of heroic resistance to an overwhelming Afghan force. When the British contingent was down to its last two officers and nine men of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot, they were said to have met their deaths by charging on foot at the enemy. An Afghan witness said: “The behaviour of those last 11 was the wonder of all who saw it.”
Historical records show that a British column reached Maiwand soon after the battle and buried the bodies they found. They also buried military equipment and personal possessions that had not been looted by the Afghans. The remains lay largely undisturbed until the arrival in 2009 of a large force of US troops bent on crushing the Taliban. That same year a US military team engaged on civil reconstruction projects started work on an old irrigation ditch near Mahmudabad, a village in the Maiwand district of southern Afghanistan. It discovered a large haul of buried Victorian-era artefacts.
A US soldier working with the reconstruction team is understood to have posted a large consignment of historical items to America, where they were sold to a collector. On the Victorian Wars Forum website the collector posted images of his purchases with the caption: “Sent to me by my friend’s son who is currently in Afghanistan serving with the 1st Infantry Regiment.” The pictured items included binoculars, coins, watch chains, cartridge cases, Martini-Henry rifle parts, general service buttons and pipes. Some of the personal items bear soldiers’ initials.
An MoD official said the US soldier “may have broken international law”........ The MoD said the Pentagon had been informed and added: “This is a matter for the US military.”
The US defence department did not respond to a request for comment.