British Operations in the North-West Frontier

The North-West frontier of India was infamous for its huge amount of Military activity and its aggressive and warlike tribes known as the Pashtuns. The Pashtuns today make up several warring factions in the Modern "Afghanistan" (Afghanistan doesn't exist, it is just a loose Western name for a large set of land created by the British in the Great Game for a buffer state against the Russians. It has no true central government, it is in reality controlled by militant cheifdoms/warlords) Civil Wars. The British had several clashes with the various Pashtun tribes like the Muhmmads, Bazai, Orakzis, Mahsud, Swatis and countless other tribes. The various Pashtun tribes were legendary for their cruel treatment of prisoners and wounded soldiers. Accounts state that Pashtun women castrated and drowned prisoners with their urine, while Pashtun warriors have been recorded to have cut up wounded soldiers with their swords. The most infamous incident of the Operations in the North-West Frontier is that 12,000 British Raj troops and camp followers were retreating from an "Afghan" khanate were contently harassed by hostile tribesmen. A combination of the harsh winter, sniping from hostile tribesmen, and starvation caused what according to legend that only one European survived (but quite a few other survivors were taken prisoners by the tribesmen).