The Panjdeh incident (known in Russian historiography as the Battle of Kushka) was an armed engagement between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Russian Empire in 1885 that led to a diplomatic crisis between the British Empire and the Russian Empire caused by the Russian expansion south-eastwards towards the Emirate of Afghanistan and the British Raj (India). After nearly completing the Russian conquest of Central Asia (Russian Turkestan) the Russians captured an Afghan border fort, threatening British interests in the area. Seeing a threat to India, Britain prepared for war but both sides backed down and the matter was settled by diplomacy. The effect of this incident was to stop further Russian expansion in Asia, except for the Pamir Mountains and to define the north-western border of Afghanistan.