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==Features==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2024}}
[[File:Mir Alam of Kohistan region in Afghanistan (full page in book) cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Lithograph dated during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] of a Pashtun tribesmen (from the [[Kapisa Province|Ghizai tribe]]) and his jezail.<ref name="1966-08-26-12"/>]]
Jezails were generally handmade weapons, and consequently they varied widely in their construction. Jezails were seen as very personal weapons, and unlike the typical military weapons of the time which were very plain and utilitarian, jezails tended to be well crafted and were usually intricately decorated.
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==Anglo-Afghan Wars==
[[File:Group of Afridi fighters in 1878.jpg|thumb|Group of [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] Tribesmen (Afridi) fighters in 1878, pictured with their jezails, during the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]].]]
During this period, the jezail was the primary weapon used by the [[Pashtun tribes|Pashtuns]] and was used with great effect during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aga Jan, an officer of the Kohistan rangers; Meer Humzu, trooper of the first regiment, Janbaz cavalry; a serjeant of Affghan infantry; Ahmed Khan, private Kohistan rangers|url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-6a3d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|access-date=2020-07-24|website=NYPL Digital Collections|language=en}}</ref> British [[Brown Bess]] smoothbore muskets were effective at no more than 150 yards, and unable to be consistently accurate beyond 50 yards{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}. Because of their advantage in range, Pashtun marksmen typically used the jezail from the tops of cliffs along valleys and [[Defile (geography)|defiles]] during ambushes. This tactic repeatedly inflicted heavy casualties on the British during their [[1842 retreat from Kabul]] to [[Jalalabad]].
In the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] the British established a [[cantonment]] outside of Kabul with dirt walls approximately waist high. Surrounding the cantonment were several abandoned forts which, although out of range of British muskets, were close enough for jezail fire. When [[Ghazi (warrior)|ghazi]] and other Pashtuns forces besieged Kabul and the cantonment, they occupied the forts and used them to snipe at British forces from a safe range.{{fact|date=February 2021}}
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