The Second Anglo-Afghan War was a conflict between the British Empire, that is, British India and Afghanistan. It lasted from late November 1878. until September 1880. In the pre-war period, Russia led an aggressive expansion throughout Central Asia which attracted the attention of Great Britain. Diplomatic conflicts and the struggle for influence in Asia between Great Britain and Russia are popularly called the "Great Game". The British thought that the Russians would attack India, which was the most important British colony. The only state that divided British India from the Russian Empire was Afghanistan which would become the scene of a conflict of interest between the two powers. Afghanistan was ruled by emir Sher Ali Khan at that time. Another important figure was the Viceroy of India Lytton. The British sought to establish relations with Sher Ali Khan on several occasions with the intention of halting the rise of Russian influence in Afghanistan. This was evident during the Peshawar conference and with the Ottoman diplomatic mission sent to Kabul in 1877. Later, Sher Ali Khan received Stolietov’s mission in Kabul which provoked a reaction from the British who in turn sent Chamberlain. After the rejection of Chamberlain's mission war broke out. The war took place in two phases between which a temporary truce ensued when the Treaty of Gandamak was signed with Yakub Khan, son of Sher Ali Khan. Treaty of Gandamak secured territorial concessions and control over Afghanistan's foreign policy to the British, but the situation was exacerbated by the massacre of Cavagnari's mission in Kabul, which marked the beginning of the second phase of the war. The war finally ended with the defeat of Ayub Khan at Kandahar in September 1880. while in the meantime a new emir Abdur Rahman was appointed who renewed the terms signed in the Treaty of Gandamak and the Anglo-Afghan relations became stable.