Photograph of a group of six Afghan soldiers. The man sitting at the front of the group is pointing a long gun to the right. There is a man standing behind him holding a curved sword and three of the other soldiers are holding guns. They are wearing traditional Afghan clothes of loose robes and turbans or caps. There is a camp behind them with a tent to the left.

The photographer John Burke travelled with the Peshawar Valley Field Force during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80), one of a series of conflicts between Britian and Russia over control of Afghanistan. In addition to photographing landscapes and key strategic sites he captured members of prominent Afghan Peoples groups and soldiers involved in the conflict.