text:  Major Pottinger at a council of war convened by the General "declared his conviction that no confidence could be placed in any treaty formed with the Affghan chiefs; that under such circumstances to bind the hands of the Government by promising to evacuate the country and to restore the deposed Ameer and to waste moreover so much public money merely to save our own lives and property would be inconsistent with the duty we owed to our country and the Government we served; and that the only honourable course would be either to hold out at Cabul or to force our immediate retreat to Jellalabad