Deleted member 94680
Excellent post!
However, two things:
1. I would like to point out that I actually was talking about Afghanistan receiving territorial "gifts" from the Germans at Brest-Litovsk; indeed, expecting Afghanistan to successfully fight against Britain and Russia is obviously unrealistic--as you yourself point out!
Anyway, how would my clarification here change your answer in regards to this?
2. Wasn't Gallipoli very important to the Entente/Allies because a victory there would open up the Straits and thus allow Britain and France to begin exporting large amounts of goods and war materials to Russia?
Thank you.
1. Would they though? In this POD the Afghans have joined the CP 'in name only' then? What have they contributed to the War effort? Why should they be rewarded?
2. Yes, Gallipoli was important in its aims (less so in execution, obviously) but the troops and equipment allocated to it OTL reflect its position in the grand scheme. The prospect of Britain losing India (the jewel, the main territory, the raison d'être of the Empire) would be Priority Number One outside of the Western Front. The same way France couldn't contribute massively to anything other than defeating the Germans, the British are going to shelve everything until the 'Afghan Menace' is resolved.
To the point about "you all forgetting what's been going on in Afghanistan since 1979" the British wouldn't occupy Afghanistan - they'd do what they always did (or tried to do) remove the ruler that was a problem, find someone friendly to them and pay him a shitload of cash to be nice to them.