Duhamel hoped that Afghan tribesmen would join his force in the hope of winning loot and territory and that the Persians might attack the Ottomans. He also hoped that the Sikh Empire, defeated by Britain in 1849, might attack the British and that other Indians, particularly among the Muslim population, might rise in rebellion. Because of the demands of the Crimean War the invasion did not progress. The British considered that they could have defeated any potential invasion from the North-West Frontier.