Three wars (1838–42; 1878–80; and 1919) fought between the rulers of Afghanistan and the colonial British government in India. As a buffer state with Russia to its north and British India to its south, Afghanistan was viewed as a strategically important region for security and trade reasons by both governments. The first two wars were fought for hegemonic control over Afghanistan by the British while the third one was an undeclared war which lasted a month and was followed by Afghanistan gaining its independence from being a British protectorate to a sovereign state.