Tochi Valley, is one of the main routes into Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

.
The Tochi Valley leads from Bannu District

Bannu District

Bannu District is one of the twenty four districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, it is represented in the provincial assembly by four MPAs. The chief city of the district is Bannu. The major industries are cloth weaving and the manufacture of cotton fabrics, machinery, and...

 through tribal areas, and is inhabited by the Dawari

Dawari

The Dawari, or Dauri are a Pashtun tribe in the Waziristan area of Pakistan. The Dawaris inhabit the Tochi Valley, otherwise known as Dawar or Daur, and are a homogeneous tribe of considerable size.-History:...

 tribe. The valley is divided into two parts, known as Upper and Lower Dawar, by a narrow pass called the Taghrai Tangi, some three miles long. Between Dawar and Bannu is the low range of uninhabited hills, which skirt the Bannu district. It was by this route that Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni , actually ', was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty who ruled from 997 until his death in 1030 in the eastern Iranian lands. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Iran,...

 effected several of his raids into India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and the remains of a road flanking the valley and of defensive positions can still be traced. After the Waziristan Expedition of 1894, the Tochi was garrisoned by British troops; but when Lord Curzon reorganized the frontier in 1901, the British troops were withdrawn, and their place supplied by tribal militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

. The chief posts are Saidgi, Idak, Miranshah

Miranshah

Miranshah is the capital or headquarters of North Waziristan in Pakistan. It is the site of a town, which has s small airfield that was built by the British for World War II. The area in which Miranshah sits is extremely dangerous mainly due to Taliban activities and U.S. Drone...

, Datta Khel

Datta Khel

Datta Khel is town in North Waziristan, FATA, Pakistan. Datta Khel is on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.On Sept 25, 2008, as an indication of escalating tensions between nations, Pakistani forces fired warning shots at the American aircraft after they crossed into Pakistan’s territory...

 and Sheranni. The valley was the scene of action for the Tochi or Dawari Expedition under Brigadier-General Keyes in 1872, and the Tochi Expedition under General Corrie Bird in 1897. Tochi Valley is also one of the few places where inscriptions of the Bactrian language

Bactrian language

The Bactrian language is an extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria. Linguistically, it is classified as belonging to the middle period of the East Iranian branch...

have been found.