Siege of Kunar Khas
34°38′18″N 70°52′03″E / 34.6382°N 70.8675°E
| Siege of Kunar Khas | |||||||||
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| Part of the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 | |||||||||
Kunar Khas Siege of Kunar Khas (Afghanistan) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Afghanistan | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Unknown | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 1,500–2,000 | ||||||||
The Siege of Kunar Khas was a military engagement during the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947.
Before the onset of World War II, the Afghan government established military posts on the east bank of the Kunar river, which the Mohmand tribe had never approved of. In 1944, Afghan tribal revolts erupted, and by the end of July 1945 the rebels were on the offensive. It was in this context that the Mohmands saw a good opportunity to finally liquidate the garrison at Kunar Khas.
The siege began in late August 1945, with a mixed lashkar of roughly 1,500–2,000 Safi and Mohmand tribesmen surrounding a garrison of about 400 loyalist troops on the east bank of the Kunar River. Cut off from communication and supply, and with the river unbridged, government forces found themselves in a precarious position. Ramadan helped limit wider tribal mobilization, but the threat of a cascading insurgency across the Eastern Province and beyond pushed Kabul into urgent appeals for British Indian assistance.
British pressure on Mohmand tribes across the Durand Line and Indian air demonstrations hindered further rebel reinforcements, while Afghanistan secured tribal neutrality through a mix of threats and payments. An airlift kept the besieged troops supplied. Ultimately, on 8 September 1945, General Mohammad Daoud Khan exploited low river levels to ford troops across the Kunar and break the siege on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, dispersing the rebel force.
Gerald Crichton, the British Charge de 'affairs in Kabul, described the loyalist victory at Kunar Khas as the “turning point” of the tribal revolts. The Safi rebels, demoralized and deprived of loot, gradually dispersed, and by late October 1945 most had surrendered to General Daoud Khan. The settlement granted amnesty, eased conscription, and ended grain requisitions. However, a minority of rebels rejected the settlement, and the tribal revolts subsisted until January 1947.