Elphinstone had commenced.

As there was no intelligent concert of action among the British
leaders, the garrison melted away in detail, the Afghan auxiliaries
refused to fight, or turned their arms against the Europeans. Sir
William McNaghten was murdered by Akbar, at a council in sight of
the garrison. A few attempts to force a passage, or to defend
themselves, made by certain brave officers of the beleagured force,
failed.

On January 6, 1842, an agreement was made by which the Afghan leader
promised to ensure to the British forces a safe withdrawal to India.
This was violated with Afghan readiness, and the entire Anglo-Indian
contingent of seventeen thousand souls was destroyed; sacrificed to
the murderous brutality of the Afghan insurgents, or dying from
exposure to one of the most severe winters known to that region.
Months after, heaps of dead bodies, preserved by the intense cold,
obstructed the mountain passes. The horrors of Moscow were repeated
in the Khurd Kabul, and the noblest attributes of humanity were
exemplified in the acts of the officers and soldiers of the doomed
party. Only twenty of this entire force survived. The news of this
horrible disaster was brought to Jelalabad by the only man who
penetrated the Afghan environment, Dr. Brydon.

On receipt of the news of this overwhelming catastrophe, the Indian
Government endeavored to rescue the garrisons of Kandahar and
Ghazni, as well as that of Jelalabad; but the Mohammedan troops
refused to march against their co-religionists, and the Sikhs also
showed great unwillingness. The garrison of Ghazni, thinking to
secure its safety by capitulation, was cut to pieces December 23,