Re: as being afghans why we saluate Mughals
That’s common in war when you don’t want a city to be destroyed in an assault. And that is exactly the reason they gave at the time.
It’s like how the French refused to defend their capital Paris in 1940.
The US Army chose not to defend in Manila in 1942 even though they could have held off the Japanese for months there.
The German army refused to defend Rome in 1944 because they were worried about collateral damage (and then prompty stopped the Allies in their tracks at the Gothic Line)
It’s why General Niazi surrendered Dhaka in 1971 without a fight despite having 100,000 men and plenty of food and ammunition, and having no orders from West Pakistan to do so.