 The Siege of Malakand was the 26 July – 2 August 1897 siege of the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial British India 's North West Frontier Province . The British faced a force of Pashtun tribesmen whose tribal lands had been bisected by the Durand Line , the 1 @,@ 519 mile ( 2 @,@ 445 km ) border between Afghanistan and British India drawn up at the end of the Anglo @-@ Afghan wars to help hold the Russian Empire 's spread of influence towards the Indian subcontinent . 
