Located near the site of the ancient
Indus Valley civilization and
Harappa, the region was annexed as part of a far flung satrapy by the old
Persian
Achaemenid Empire before 500 B.C. The
Macedonians under
Alexander the Great marched on the area around 330 B.C., the later
Greco-Bactrians establishing an independent
Indo-Greek Kingdom following a split with the
Seleucid Empire to the west. Afterwards, it came under
Mauryan rule. The
Saka arrived around 97 B.C., before the
Indo-Parthians of
Arsacid affinity ruled under
Gondophares to about A.D. 75. The following few centuries A.D. brought at least nominal
Kushan,
Ephthalite,
Kidarite and
Sassanian Persian rule, the last of which fell to the forces of the
Arab Rashidun Caliphate, which introduced
Islam to the
East Iranian borderlands in the seventh century. Islam was spread further east under the
Saffarid dynasty which, under
Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari, pressed deep into the
Khyber hinterlands. The succeeding centuries saw
Ghaznavid,
Ghorid, and
Babar control of the area, where regional
Pashtoon tribes living in and around the
Hindu-Kush later battled the encroaching
British India northwest of the
Punjab. From then onward, the region remained under
British Indian Empire rule after the 1893
Durand Line agreement, until the state of
Pakistan was created. Up to 1895, the Deputy Commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan and
Bannu had controlled all political matters in Waziristan since the taking over of the Frontier from the
Sikhs. These areas did not come under British control until November 1893, when the
Amir of Afghanistan signed a treaty renouncing all claims to these territories. After an attack on the
Delimitation Commission Escort at Wanna in 1894 and subsequent large military operations in 1894–95, a Political Agent for South Waziristan was permanently appointed with its headquarters at Wanna; another was appointed for the Tochi area (North Waziristan) with headquarters at
Miramshah. The post of Resident in Waziristan was created in 1908. The Political Agent in North Waziristan was subordinate to the Resident, who was directly responsible to the Chief Commissioner of North Western Frontier Province. With the withdrawal of
Indian government to the settled districts, the regular armed forces were withdrawn and, instead, a local militia was raised in 1900. However, large scale disturbances occurred in 1904 resulting in the murder of the Political Agent and Militia Commandant at Sarwakai. Later, a plot to murder all the British officers, seize the Wanna fort; and hand it over to
Mullah Powindah, the self-styled king of Waziristan, was discovered. The Political Agent and the Commandant, on the same night, disarmed and dismissed all the Mahsuds from the Militia. A few months later, they were again enlisted, but were once again disbanded in 1906. In 1925 the Royal Air Force pacified Mahsud tribesmen by means of the
Pink's War bombing campaign. In the 20th century,
Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), although based in
Gurwek, North Waziristan, had also many followers from South Waziristan. ==Geography==