14. Vanishing Hopes
The following day, some Afghan leaders arrived and demanded that the British halt while they tried to ensure the safety of the route ahead. The Afghans extorted a large sum of money, negotiated a British agreement to withdraw immediately from all of Afghanistan, and demanded that they be given officers as hostages.
When the British resumed the march, many of their soldiers had become too debilitated by the cold to fight. British aspirations were reduced from exiting Afghanistan with dignity, to a simple hope of surviving what was shaping out to be a hellish fix. That was driven home when the column entered a narrow pass, and was fired upon by tribesmen from the rocks above. What little semblance was left of an orderly retreat vanished, as the column was transformed into a panicked mob, stampeding its way through the deadly pass with no hope other than escape. By the time the column exited the path, it had lost about 3000 casualties. Over the following days, the Afghans shook down the British for more hostages and more money, in exchange for empty promises to rein in the hostile tribesmen.
