Painting of Abdul Rashid Khan Barakzai, nephew of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, 1839
Abdool Rhechid (Abdul Rashid Khan Barakzai), nephew of Amir Dost Mahomed Khan, 1839. Painting by Thomas Wingate. Source

Inscribed in Wingate's hand: "Abdool Rhechid a nephew of Dost Mahomed Khan. An intelligent Afghan who gave important information to the British Army previous to the storming of Ghuznee on the 23rd July 1839."

Abdul Rashid was inside the Ghazni fort when the British army arrived at Ghazni on 21 July 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. He turned traitor and revealed the city’s defenses to the British invaders. He informed them that although most of the fortress gates had been bricked up as the British troops advanced, one had been left open to maintain communication with Amir Dost Mohammad, making it vulnerable. That night, the British stormed the city by blowing up this weak point, while launching a diversionary attack on the opposite side of the fortress to draw attention away. Abdul Rashid’s treachery thus played a key role in the British capture of Ghazni, enabling them to take the city with fewer casualties.