Chapter IV OCCUPATION OF KABUL AND PESHAWAR The measures adopted by Ahmad Shah at his accession eminently succeeded in winning over the Afghan tribes to his cause. Recruits poured in from all directions, and, before long, his army exceeded forty thousand, drawn from almost all the clans of the Abdalis and Ghalzeis, with a sprinkling of the Qizzilbashes. OCCUPATION OF KABUL There was then no such thing as Afghanistan. The first thing for him to do, therefore, was to bring together various Afghan districts into one political unit, Herat he left over for a later occasion and decided to begin with Ghazni and Kabul. And there were reasons for it. Nawab Nasir Klhan^ of Kabul, as we know, had been set at liberty and confirmed as the governor of that province. He was an ambitious and intriguing man and, as is borne out by his subsequent career, he could not appreciate an act of grace towards him. Al- though he had left with Ahmad Shah his elder son as a host- age for good behaviour, he had no intention to fulfil his promises Soon after his return to Kabul, he left for Pesha- war — according to one tradition, under the orders of Emperor Muhammad Shah of Delhi — and began collecting troops to oonose the plans of His Afghan Maiesty. He originally ruled Kabul on behalf of Muhammad Shah, but when that pro- vince was transferred to Nadir, he was allowed to continue in its government. Now he refused to recognize Ahmad Shah as the successor of Nadir Shah in Kabul and to fulfil the pro- mises made at the time of his release; and, on the top of it, 1, His real name was Nasiri Khan. He was the son of Nasir Khan Muhammad Aman, Governor of Kabul during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb of India. After the death of his father in 1129 A.H., 1717 A.D., he became the Suhedar of Kabul and received bis father’s title of Nasir Khan in the second year of Muhammad Shah’s reign. For further details, see MaVsir-uT-Umra, hi, 433-5; Ahmad Yadgar, Salatin^^ i-^Afaghinaf 250; also Tohmas Namd and Tanfch-i-AH, OCCUPATION OF KABUL AND PESHAWAR 37 he declared himself in favour of the Mughal. It was said that he had offered the hand of his daughter in a state of helpless- ness as a prisoner in Qandahar. As to the payment of five lakhs of rupees agreed upon, the Afghans of Kabul, who later on deserted his cause, had expressed their inability to raise the money, and had urged upon him to fight the Dur- rani. Nasir Klhan, thereupon, sent back the five Durrani guards who had come along with him for the money, and went away to Peshawar for military preparations.^ Ahmad Shah could not afford to brook such an affront in the very beginning of his rule. He, therefore, marched against him with a large force. The governor of Ghazni, appointed by Nadir, came out to block his passage but he was defeated and brushed aside, and the place was occupied without much opposition. Nasir Khan had, however, been making preparations at Peshawar to oppose the Durrani. While submitting to the Mughal Emperor, he had appealed to him for troops and money. He had also raised recruits from among the Hararah and Uzbak tribes. On the other hand, Ahmad Shah had been writing to the Afghan chiefs throughout the country ever since his accession and they had been fired with a national spirit. He had also entered into communication with the Afghans in Kabul who had, evi- dently, assured him of co-operation. They would not fight for the Mughal against the Afghan. Even the leading Per- sian families in the Bala Hisar citadel of the capital had enter- ed into a secret understanding with Ahmad Shah, And ‘they made a common cause with the Afghans’, on his arrival at Kabul, ‘under a promise that their chiefs should participate in the official appointments and advantages in the gifts of the sovereign, and be treated in all things on a footing of equality.’ The capital was defended for some time by a deputy of Nasir Khan, but, with the defection of the Afghans to the side of Ahmad Shah, he lost all hope and fled away to Peshawar to join his master. The fall of Kabul added another province to Ahmad Shah’s kingdom. The capital was occu- pied and an Afghan chief, devoted to his person and interests, 2. Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, iii, 253; Umda-tu-Tawarikh, i, 122; hh-i-mnah ‘^hah, 120-1; MuUkhas-ut-Tawanhh, 356. 38 AHMAt) SHAH DUERANI was appointed its governor. Nasir Khan’s wife, who was the daughter of Zahardast Khan Ali Mardan Khan, fell into the hands of the Durranis, but she was treated with all the re- ject due to her position. While the Shah himself was busy with the establishment of administrative machinery in this new province, he deputed Sardar Jahan Khan, his Sipah Salary popularly called Bakhshiy to march in advante against Nasir Khan.^ OCCUPATION OF PESHAWAR The Afghan king established at Kabul, Nasir Khan feared an attack from the Afghan tribes, who were sure, he thought, to join the Durrani on his way to Peshawar. To keep them in check and fear, he decided to surprise them by a night-attack upon one of their leading chiefs, Abdus Samad Khan Muhammadzei (also called Mamanzei) of the Doaha of Hasht Nagar. This danger removed, he thought he could successfully block the Khaibar Pass against the Afghans. Abdus Samad Khan escaped from his fortress towards Jalala- bad and joined the advance army of the Shah at Lalpur. Nasir Khan, in his fury, sacked the fortress of Hasht Nagar, put most of Abdus Samad Khan’s relations and dependents to the sword and returned to Peshawar.^ Sardar Jahan Khan, guided by Abdus Samad Khan, rushed into the Khaibar Pass before Nasir Khan could take any effective measures to block it. Ahmad Shah also follow- ed them soon afterwards. Nasir Khan, it seems, could not collect a force sufficiently strong to oppose them with any hope uf success. The whole of the Kabul province, including Peshawar, was populated with Afghans who had openly de- clared for the Afghan king. He, therefore, quietly evacuated Peshawar and crossed over to the east of the river Indus and sought shelter in Chh’achh Hazara. Ahmad Shah enter- ed Peshawar as a national hero and was acclaimed as such by the Af^an tribes living in that area. The chiefs of the 3. Tazkirah‘‘i–Anandramy 237; Husain Shahiy 17; Tarikh^-i’-Ahmadj 13-14; Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, 861; Saulat-UAfghaniy 244; Mulakhas^ut^ TawankTij 356; Malleson, 70. 4. Husain ShoHi, It; Tarikh-i-Abwccd^, 13-14; 124-125; Saulat’-i-Afg’hmi, 52, OCCUPATION CP KABUL AND PESHAWAE 3d Yusafzeis and Khataks, without any exception, came to do homage to him. Abdus Samad Khan Muhammadzei, also called Samand KJtian Mamanzei, had already joined Jahan Khan. He was followed, in his submission to the Durram, by the chief of Mandar, Fateh Khan, son of Nazoh Khan of Hoti, accompanied by the Khans of Toru and Babozei. Ahmad Shah received them with distinction, and, directing the Mandar chiefs to join his camp with a contingent of five hundred horse for service in Hmdustan, dismissed them with presents. The territories attached to Peshawar extended up to the right bank of the Indus, and, with the capture of this place and the submission of the tribal chiefs, the boundary of the new kingdom was carried wherever an Afghan tribe was to be found to the west of the river. On arriving at Peshawar, Ahmad Shah had ordered Jahan Khan not to slacken the pursuit of Nasir Khan till he had driven him out of Hazara. The news soon arrived that the fugitive had fled to the Panjab. According to the Tazkirah-i^ Anandram^ he reached Lahore on the 23rd of Zi-qada, 1160 A.H., November 15, 1747. At this time Nawab Hayat- ullah Khan Shah Nawaz Khan, the governor of Lahore, was in secret correspondence with Ahmad Shah Durrani. Nasir Khan could not, therefore, be given a warm public reception. In fact, the governor hesitated even to meet him. Nasir Khan stayed for a few days in one of the chambers of the Idgah — where Shah Nawaz Khan paid him a private visit — and then marched away to Delhi where, on the 27th of Zilhijja, Decem- ber 19, 1747, he was received in audience by Emperor Muham- mad Shah and was given a dress of honour of six pieces, a sword, an elephant and a lakh of rupees in recognition of his loyalty to the Mughal Empire.^ Sardar Jahan Khan returned to Peshawar after the flight of Nasir Khan and began prepaiing himself for military ope- rations in India for which his master, Ahmad Shah, had made up his mind in response to the invitations of Shah Nawaz Khan of Lahore. 5. Husain ShaU, 18; Tarikh-i-Ahmad, 14; Tazkirah-i-Amwkmn^ 237-8; Tarikh-i-Sultam, 124-5; Shah Namahi 50-8; H* W. Belkw, zeiSf 77.

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