Afghanistan
LAST AFGHAN EMPIRE
Overthrow of foreign rule.
Periodic attempts were made to gain independence. In 1709
Mir Veys Khan,
a leader of the Hotaki Ghilzay tribe, led a successful rising
against
Gorgin Khan, the Persian governor
of Qandahar.
The Hotakis.
Mir Veys Khan governed Qandahar until
his death in 1715. In 1716 the Abdalis of Herat,
encouraged by his example, took up arms against the Persians
and under their leader,
Asadullah Khan,
succeeded in liberating their province.
Mahmud,
Mir Veys's young son and successor, was not content with
holding Qandahar, and in 1722 he led some 20,000 men
against Isfahan; the Safavid government surrendered after
a six-month siege.
Mahmud died in 1725 and was succeeded by Ashraf,
who had to contend with Russian pressure from
the north and
Ottoman Turk advances
from the west. Shah Ashraf halted both the Russian and
Turkish onslaughts, but a brigand chief,
Nader Qoli
Beg, defeated the Afghans at Damghan in October
1729 and drove them from Persia. During the retreat Ashraf was
murdered, probably on orders from his cousin, who was then holding
Qandahar.
Nader Shah.
Nader Qoli Beg took Herat in 1732 after
a desperate siege. Impressed by their courage, Nader
recruited many Heratis to serve in his army. He was elected
shah of Persia, with the name Nader Shah,
in 1736.
In 1738, after a year's siege, the city of Qandahar
fell to Nader Shah's army of 80,000 men. Nader
Shah seized Ghazna and Kabul and occupied the Mughal
capital at Delhi in 1739. His booty included the Koh-i-noor
diamond and the Peacock Throne. He was assassinated at Khabushan
in 1747, which led to the disintegration of his empire and the
rise of the last great Afghan empire.
Copyright (c) 1995 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All Rights Reserved