 During this period he saw little action, and between 1835 and 1836 was assigned to the revenue surveys in Gorakhpur and later Bareilly.In June 1838 he was promoted to brevet captain.In November 1838, Abbott served in the army of Sir John Keane, who had been tasked with supporting Shuja Shah Durrani in his bid to wrest power from Dost Mohammad Khan in Afghanistan.