Afghanistan
The Durrani dynasty.
The
commander of the Shah's 4,000-man Afghan
bodyguard was
Ahmad Khan
Abdali, who returned to Qandahar where
he was elected king (shah) by a tribal council. He adopted
the title Durr-i Durran ("Pearl of Pearls"). Supported
by most tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani
extended Afghan control from Meshed to Kashmir and Delhi, from
the Amu River to the Arabian Sea. The Durrani
was the second greatest Muslim empire in the second half of
the 18th century, surpassed in size only by the Ottoman.
Ahmad Shah died in 1772 and was succeeded by
his son, Timur Shah, who received
but nominal homage from the tribal chieftains. Much of his reign
was spent in quelling their rebellions. Because of this opposition,
Timur shifted his capital from Qandahar
to Kabul in 1776.
Zaman Shah (1793-1800).
After
the death of Timur in 1793, his
fifth son, Zaman, seized the throne with the help of
Sardar Payenda Khan, a chief of the Barakzay.
Zaman then turned to India with the object of repeating
the exploits of Ahmad Shah. This alarmed the
British, who induced
Fath 'Ali Shah of Persia
to bring pressure upon the Afghan king and divert his attention
from India. The shah went a step further, helping
Mahmud,
governor of Herat and a brother of Zaman, with
men and money and encouraging him to advance on Qandahar.
Mahmud, assisted by his vizier,
Fath Khan
Barakzay, eldest son of Sardar Payenda
Khan, and by Fath 'Ali Shah, took
Qandahar and advanced on Kabul. Zaman, in India,
hurried back to Afghanistan. There he was handed over to Mahmud,
blinded, and imprisoned (1800). The Durrani Empire
had begun to disintegrate after 1798, when Zaman Shah
appointed a Sikh, Ranjit Singh, as governor of Lahore.
Shah Mahmud (1800-03; 1809-18).
Shah Mahmud left affairs of state to Fath
Khan. Some of the chiefs who had grievances against the
King or his ministers joined forces and invited Zaman's
brother Shah Shoja' to Kabul. The intrigue
was successful. Shah Shoja' occupied the capital,
and Mahmud sued for peace.
Shah Shoja' (1803-09; 1839-42).
The new king, Shah Shoja', ascended the throne
in 1803. The chiefs had become powerful and unruly, and the
outlying provinces were asserting their independence. The Sikhs
of the Punjab were encroaching upon Afghan territories from
the east, while the Persians were threatening from the west.
Napoleon, then at the zenith of his power in Europe, proposed
to Alexander I of Russia a combined invasion of India. A British
mission, headed by Mountstuart Elphinstone, met Shah
Shoja' at Peshawar to discuss mutual defense against
this threat, which never developed. A treaty of friendship was
concluded (June 7, 1809), the shah promising to oppose
the passage of foreign troops through his dominions. Shortly
after the mission left Peshawar news was received that
Kabul had been occupied by the forces of Mahmud
and Fath Khan. Shah Shoja''s troops
were routed, and he withdrew from Afghanistan and found asylum
with the British at Ludhiana in 1815.
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