The difficulty of restraining and punishing the Mohmands had for years been intensified by the doubts which existed as to the respective spheres of influence of the British and Kabul Governments; it had been hoped that the Durand Agreement of 1893 had helped to smooth these difficulties away; but the Agreement, although apparently concurred in by the Amir, did not commend itself to his judgment on reconsideration, so far at least as the partition of control over the Mohmands was concerned. At last in 1896 the Government of India, with a view of terminating a state of indecision which had become intolerable, resolved to make an attempt to bring certain of the Mohmand clans more immediately under British control. The efforts made in this direction were so far successful that, despite certain hostile influences—religious and political—the Halimzais, Tarakzais, Utmanzais, Dawezais, and also the Pandiali sections, were held to be henceforth in British territory, and seemed themselves cordially to concur when the new arrangement was announced to them. When the frontier disturbances commenced in 1897 the above-named clans evinced no disposition to take part, although the Hadda Mullah, an especially notorious agitator, himself lived in the Mohmand country and had acquired a commanding influence over the clans, with some of whom he was said to have helped to defend the Malakand in 1895; and when in July the rising occurred among the men of Swat, some of the leading Mohmands among our new subjects offered their assistance to the representatives of the British Government. Eventually the Hadda Mullah succeeded in stirring up the tribesmen, who, while unwilling to assist their co-religionists in Swat, had no objection to raid in the vicinity of their own border; and accordingly by the 7th August information had reached the authorities at Peshawar that some 3000 Mohmands were marching from Gandab to attack Shabkadar. The General Officer commanding at Peshawar proposed reinforcing Fort Shabkadar with regular troops, but this proposal was negatived by the Commissioner, who was in hopes that the Halimzais, who had so recently accepted our protection, would be able and willing to prevent the advance of the raiders. It was, however, speedily apparent that measures so heroic were quite beyond the power of the Halimzais; they temporised, they gave information of the hostile movement, but they did not oppose the forces of the Hadda Mullah; and eventually, as was almost to be expected, many of the Halimzai fighting men enlisted under his banners.