Tirah Campaign was fought the time period when the British were gaining ground to again move close to Afghanistan, from where they had come back after the Second Afghan War 1978-80. The British had complete control over the entire subcontinent, including Burma. The Russians had by now been contained by the British. The British intelligence was fully active in the Central Asian states. The British had fully consolidated in what is now Pakistan. The Durand line under Col. Durand had been demarcated in 1894, along-with the Watershed favourable to the British. Col. Durand had defined the border militarily from the strategical and tactical point of views favourable to the British. Interestingly the Afghan Government had accepted the Durand Line but cleverly had left the Tribal areas to act as a buffer between the settled areas of British India and Afghanistan. This was not accepted by the Tribes of NWFP, where the Durand had divided the tribal's families across the border. Thereafter the Tribals decided to give the British a final battle to throw them back to the settled areas. It was a general uprising throughout the frontier by the Religious Leader under Mullah Huddah. Leadership as such was not with the Tribal heads/Political Chiefs but with Religious Leaders. The Tribal Elders provided leadership in their respective tribes and fought as subordinates under the Religious Leaders.
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