Mir Mast Afridi

Mir Mast hailed from the Qambarkhēl Afridi tribe of Terah from the village of Kharkay. His elder brother was Mir Dast who was a recipient of the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915.^[1]

Upon the outbreak of the First World War, over one million Indian soldiers were mobilised to fight the Central Powers in Asia, Africa and Europe. Mir Mast arrived in France in 1914 where his brother Mir Dast was also serving. He was under the 58 Vaughan's Rifles and fought in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. On a chilly rainy night on the 2nd and 3 March 1915, Mir Mast led either 14 or 22 other Afridi Pashtun soldiers to defect.^[a] He then partook in a belligerent engagement with British troops causing savage losses and was said to have been decorated with the Iron Cross on April 24 by the Kaiser himself, Wilhelm II.^[1][2][3][4]

He set out on a Jihad against the British Empire travelling via Constantinople to Kabul. He met the chief religious scholar of Turkey who conferred upon him the title of Mujahid-i-Millat^[b] and the Islamic flag as an emblem. He supported the Ottoman Caliphate and was determined to raise a force with Turkish and German assistance to resist the British. He was sent to Afghanistan as an envoy to persuade an Afghan entry into the war which was not accomplished. However, in May 1915 Afghan military chief Prince Nasrullah Khan gave an assurance to finance expeditions in the Tirah Valley. Mir Mast also made contact with Haji Sahib of Turangzai who was occupied fighting the British with the Mohmand tribe. Peshawar Commissioner George Roos-Keppel discovered the plot and burned the houses of Mir Mast and his companions in an attempt to corner him.^{[1][2][5][6][7]}

Mir Mast eventually returned to his homeland but remained just outside of British jurisdiction in the border area of the Emirate of Afghanistan. Mir Mast Khan Afridi died in the Spanish influenza epidemic during the Great War or in 1919.^[1][5]