The strategic and political situation, with which Sir Bindon Blood was
confronted at Nawagai on the 17th of September, was one of difficulty
and danger. He had advanced into a hostile country. In his front the
Mohmands had gathered at the Hadda Mullah's call to oppose his further
progress. The single brigade he had with him was not strong enough to
force the Bedmanai Pass, which the enemy held. The 2nd Brigade, on which
he had counted, was fully employed twelve miles away in the Mamund
Valley. The 1st Brigade, nearly four marches distant on the Panjkora
River, had not sufficient transport to move. Meanwhile General Elles's
division was toiling painfully through the difficult country north-east
of Shabkadr, and could not arrive for several days. He was therefore
isolated, and behind him was the "network of ravines," through which a
retirement would be a matter of the greatest danger and difficulty.
Besides this, his line of communications, stretching away through sixty
miles of hostile country, or country that at any moment might become
hostile, was seriously threatened by the unexpected outbreak in the
Mamund Valley.
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