Miranshah lies on the banks of the Tochi River in a wide valley surrounded by the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains.

It is located at an elevation of about 930 metres (3,050 ft), 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border (Durand Line).

Miranshah is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District, in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA).

In the early 1950s, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the "Tochi Scouts" of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps carried out counter-insurgency operations from Miranshah Airfield and Miranshah Fort against the insurgency fomented by the rebellious General Shudikhel Dawar and Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi).

[3] After 9/11, Miranshah gained prominence in the United States-led War on Terror and has witnessed numerous drone strikes by the US Central Intelligence Agency targeting alleged militants hiding in the town and the surrounding foothills.