Hi Spiral , if I recall correctly Mazar I Sharif was a Afghan Royal Armory .
I'm also fairly sure from what I have read that there was a strong treaty in force with Abdur Rahman and a settled border with Russia about that time .
It would make sense that in such a delicate area the British would have wanted at least a minimal representative force on the ground to insure the peace and guard against Russian intrigue ; thus Gurkha troops may well have been present .
An interesting read on this time, area and the politics is *The Great Game* by Peter Hopkirk .
The Afghan sabre that I have is seldom seen for sale although with the presence of Western troops there this may change . I believe in my years of collecting I have only seen 8 or 10 examples of this style sabre . I have seen the hilts and variations thereof mounted to Khyber blades ; doubtful that these Khyber blades were from the royal armory though .
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