HERAT AND THE WESTERN BORDER The inception of the policy by which our relations with Afghanistan are controlled at the present time is due to the reflective intuition of Alexander Burnes[11] who, in 1831, when attached to the Teheran Mission under Sir John Macdonald, felt the necessity of combating the growing influence of Russia in Afghanistan. Circumstances, emanating from the presence of the Russian Mission under Prince Menzikoff at Teheran in 1826, disclosed the policy of Russia towards Persia and Afghanistan to be following two channels: the one, real, immediate and acquisitive; the other, remote, artificial and aiming at intimidation. The influence of these two methods of approach was inimical alike to Persia and Afghanistan, as also to the interests of India; to their existence may be traced the causes of the Russo-Persian War. The results of this campaign with Russia, in which the Shah was engaged from 1826 to 1828, left Persia smarting under its loss of prestige, broken up into a number of petty principalities and ready to attempt armed incursions across the frontier by way of restoring its good name. Khiva and then Herat in turn were considered, selection finally falling upon Herat as the object of attack. The expedition was begun; but owing to the death of Abbas Mirza, the father of the Prince Royal Mahomed Mirza who conducted the expedition, it was withdrawn and for the time being further action was deferred. In the meantime, affairs in Persia had attracted the attention of India; and, as the weakness of the Persian state increased, Russian diplomacy became more active. Distinguished by a marked hostility to England, the policy of Russia aimed at stirring up the tribes of Afghanistan. With this end in view Russian advice counselled Mahomed Mirza Shah to resume the operations against Herat at the same time that a Russian Mission was despatched to Kabul. The intimate association with the affairs of Persia and Afghanistan, which distinguished the position of Russia at this date, is interesting since it reveals how closely our Afghan and our Persian policies were interwoven, the one re-acting on the other with sympathetic consequence. There is, also, equal evidence of the influence exercised over India by the machinations of Russian diplomacy.