Anglo-Afghan wars First Anglo-Afghan War British East India Company defeated the Sikhs during the
Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, and incorporated small parts of the region into the
Province of Punjab. While Peshawar was the site of a small revolt against the British during the
Mutiny of 1857, local Pashtun tribes throughout the region generally remained neutral or supportive of the British as they detested the Sikhs. In 1837,
Lord Palmerston and
John Hobhouse, fearing the instability of
Afghanistan, the
Sindh, and the increasing power of the
Sikh kingdom to the northwest, raised the spectre of a possible Russian invasion of
British India through Afghanistan. The British tended to misunderstand the foreign policy of the Emperor Nicholas I as anti-British and intent upon an expansionary policy in Asia. The main goal of Nicholas's foreign policy was not the conquest of Asia, but rather upholding the
status quo in Europe, especially by co-operating with Prussia and
Austria, and in isolating France, as
Louis Philippe I, the King of the French was a man whom Nicholas hated as a "usurper". Therefore, instead of fixating on the oriental other, the East India Company played up the threat of the Russian bear". British fears of a Persian and Afghan invasion of India took one step closer to becoming a reality when negotiations between the Afghans and Russians broke down in 1838. The
Qajar dynasty of Persia, with Russian support, attempted the
Siege of Herat. Herat, in Afghanistan, is a city that had historically belonged to Persia; the Qajar shahs had long desired to take it back. It is located in a plain so fertile that it is known as the "Granary of Central Asia"; whoever controls Herat and the surrounding countryside also controls the largest source of grain in all of Central Asia. On 1 October 1838, Lord Auckland issued the Simla Declaration attacking Dost Mohammed Khan for making "an unprovoked attack" on the empire of "our ancient ally, Maharaja
Ranjeet Singh", going on to declare that Shuja Shah was "popular throughout Afghanistan" and would enter his former realm "surrounded by his own troops and be supported against foreign interference and factious opposition by the British Army". The British denied that they were invading Afghanistan, claiming they were merely supporting its "legitimate" Shuja government "against foreign interference and factious opposition." Shuja Shah by 1838 was barely remembered by most of his former subjects and those that did viewed him as a cruel, tyrannical ruler who, as the British were soon to learn, had almost no popular support in Afghanistan.
Second Anglo-Afghan War After tension between Russia and Britain in Europe ended with the June 1878
Congress of Berlin, Russia turned its attention to Central Asia. That same summer, Russia sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul.
Sher Ali Khan, the
Amir of Afghanistan, tried unsuccessfully to keep them out. Russian envoys arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878, and on 14 August, the British demanded that Sher Ali accept a British mission too. The Amir not only refused to receive a British mission under
Neville Bowles Chamberlain, but threatened to stop it if it were dispatched.
Lord Lytton, the
viceroy of India, ordered a diplomatic mission to set out for Kabul in September 1878 but the mission was turned back as it approached the eastern entrance of the
Khyber Pass, triggering the Second Anglo–Afghan War. With British forces occupying
Kabul, Sher Ali's son and successor, Yaqub Khan, signed the
Treaty of Gandamak on 26 May 1879. According to this agreement and in return for an annual subsidy and vague assurances of assistance in case of foreign aggression, Yaqub relinquished control of Afghan foreign affairs to Britain. British representatives were installed in Kabul and other locations, and their control was extended to the
Khyber and
Michni passes, and Afghanistan ceded various
North-West Frontier Province areas and
Quetta to Britain which included the strategic fort of
Jamrud. Yaqub Khan also renounced all rights to interfering in the internal affairs of the
Afridi tribe. In return, Yaqub Khan who only received an annual subsidy of 600,000 rupees, with the British pledging to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan excluding
Kandahar. Ayub Khan, who had been serving as governor of Herat, rose in revolt, defeated a British detachment at the
Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 and besieged Kandahar. Roberts then led the main British force from Kabul and decisively defeated Ayub Khan on 1 September at the
Battle of Kandahar, bringing his rebellion to an end. Despite this, no further trouble resulted between Afghanistan and British India during Rahman's period of rule. The Russians kept well out of Afghan internal affairs, with the exception of the
Panjdeh incident three years later, resolved by arbitration and negotiation after an initial British ultimatum. The British ceded
Kandahar to
Afghanistan. The Districts of
Quetta,
Pishin,
Sibi,
Harnai & Thal Chotiali ceded to
British India The war resulted in a British victory In 1893,
Mortimer Durand was dispatched to Kabul by British India to sign an agreement with Rahman for fixing the limits of their respective
spheres of influence as well as improving diplomatic relations and trade. On November 12, 1893, the
Durand Line Agreement was reached. This led to the creation of a new
North-West Frontier Province.
Third Anglo-Afghan War and aftermath Several princely states within the boundaries of the region were allowed to maintain their autonomy under the terms of maintaining friendly ties with the British. As the British war effort during
World War One demanded the reallocation of resources from British India to the European war fronts, some tribesmen from Afghanistan crossed the Durand Line in 1917 to attack British posts in an attempt to gain territory and weaken the legitimacy of the border. The validity of the Durand Line, however, was re-affirmed in 1919 by the Afghan government with the signing of the
Treaty of Rawalpindi, which ended the
Third Anglo-Afghan War.
Operations in Waziristan (1919–1939) Waziristan Campaign (1919–1920) The prelude to the 1919–1920 campaign was an incursion by the
Mahsud Tribe in the summer of 1917 while British forces were otherwise engaged fighting in the
First World War. The British Forces eventually restored calm, however, in 1919 the Waziris took advantage of unrest in British India following the
Third Anglo-Afghan War to launch more raids against British garrisons. It has been asserted that one of the reasons for these raids was that a rumour had been spread amongst the Wazirs and the Mahsuds, that Britain was going to give control of Waziristan to Afghanistan as part of the peace settlement following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Buoyed by this prospect and sensing British weakness, the tribes were encouraged to launch a series of large scale raids in the administered areas. By November 1919, they had killed over 200 people and wounded a further 200. The Mahsuds took heavy casualties during the fighting at Ahnai Tangi and it was these casualties, as well as the destruction of their villages a month later by bombers of the
Royal Air Force, that temporarily subdued the Mahsuds. When the Wana Wazirs rose up in November 1920, they appealed for help from the Mahsuds, but still recovering from their earlier defeat, no support was forthcoming and the Wazir opposition faded away. On 22 December 1920, Wana was re-occupied.
Waziristan Campaign (1921–1924) The
Waziristan Campaign was a road construction effort and military campaign conducted from 21 December 1921 to 31 March 1924 by
British and
Indian forces in
Waziristan (in what is now Pakistan). These operations were part of the new Forward Policy, which sought to reduce and eventually eliminate tribal uprisings and tribal raids into settled districts by stationing regular troops inside Waziristan, which would then be capable of swiftly responding to Waziri rebellions. Only two British lives and one aircraft were lost during the campaign; Mahsud casualties are not known. Pink's War was the first air action of the RAF carried out independently of the British Army or Royal Navy.
Waziristan Campaign (1936–1939) In 1919–1920, the British had fought a
campaign against the Wazir tribes. Minor skirmishes had continued into 1921, but after the establishment of a permanent garrison at
Razmak there had been a period of relative peace in the region. Throughout 1921–1924 the British undertook a road construction effort in the region that led to further conflict during the
1921–1924 campaign. In 1936, trouble again flared up in Waziristan in the form of a political and religious agitation by Mirzali Khan. For some time, there had been growing unrest in the region, fueled by a perception of a weakening of British resolve to govern following a number of constitutional changes in India; however, following a trial of a Muslim student on a charge of abducting a Hindu girl, Mirzali Khan began spreading anti-British sentiment in earnest, claiming that the government was interfering in a religious matter. In late November 1936, in order to reassert the perception of control over the region, with the approval of the Tori Khel
maliks, the government of India decided to move troops through the
Khaisora Valley. This would be achieved by marching a column from the garrison at
Razmak to the east, to join up at the village of Bichhe Kashkai with a column from the
Bannu Brigade, which would advance from the south from
Mirali. By this stage of
British rule in India there were strict rules governing such expeditions on the
North West Frontier, and as the purpose of the expedition was only as a demonstration to the tribesmen of government resolve, the decision was made that no offensive action was to be taken unless troops were fired upon. The Razmak column, known as
Razcol, began the march without incident, but after three days came under fire while traversing a narrow valley about short of Bichhe Kashkai. Intense fighting ensued as the column had to fight its way through to the village, while the two Indian battalions that made up
Tocol from Mirali ran into even tougher opposition and were delayed until the following day. The supply situation was desperate and casualties numbered around 100, so it was decided to withdraw both columns back to Mirali. This was achieved, but the picquets and rearguard were heavily engaged on numerous occasions before they arrived. While the British attempted to stamp out the insurrection by drawing the tribesmen into decisive engagement, Mirzali Khan remained at large (and indeed was never caught), and on the main, the tribesmen managed to avoid being drawn into battle using guerrilla tactics of ambush in order to keep the initiative. In doing so, they inflicted considerable casualties upon the British and Indian troops. An example of this occurred in April 1937, when a convoy from Wanna was ambushed in the
Shahur Tangi defile. Using captured mountain guns and modern rifles, the vehicles were destroyed and the exits blocked, and in the ensuing battle seven officers and 45 men were killed, while another 47 were wounded. The tribesmen did not have everything their way, however, as the British began quartering the troubled areas and destroying hostile villages with both air and ground forces. These forces included five
batteries of mechanised field artillery, two
companies of
Mk II and
Mk IIb Light Tanks and six
squadrons of aircraft including
Hawker Harts,
Westland Wapitis and
Hawker Audaxs. By December 1937, the Mirzali Khan's support began to wane and following this, the decision was made to withdraw most of the additional brigades that had been brought up to bolster the garrisons at Razmak, Bannu and Wanna as it was decided that their presence would only serve to inflame the situation. After 1939, the North West Frontier quieted down, and remained reasonably peaceful. Apart from the occasional raid on a village or attack on a garrison, things would remain this way until the end of British rule in 1947 when
another rebellion was launched against the state of Pakistan. ==Prelude==