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The Durrani Empire (Pashto: د درانیانو واکمني, also referred to as the Afghan Empire. was a Pashtun dynasty centered in Afghanistan and included northeastern Iran, the Kashmir region, the modern state of Pakistan, and northwestern India. It was established at Kandahar in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander under Nader Shah of Persia and chief of the Abdali tribe.[4] After the death of Ahmad Shah in about 1773, the Emirship was passed onto his children followed by grandchildren and its capital was shifted to Kabul. Ahmad Shah and his descendants were from the Sadozai line of the Abdalis (later called Durranis), making them the second Pashtun rulers of Kandahar, after the Ghilzai Hotakis.[5][6]
With the support of tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani extended Afghan control from Meshed to Kashmir and Delhi, from the Amu Darya to the Arabian Sea.[7] Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani was the greatest Muslim Empire in the second half of the eighteenth century.[7] The Durrani Empire is considered the foundation of the current state of Afghanistan,[8] with Ahmad Shah Durrani being credited as "Father" of Afghanistan.[6][9] Even before the death of Nader Shah of Persia in 1747, tribes around the Hindu Kush region had been growing stronger and were beginning to take advantage of the waning power of their distant rulers
Reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747-1772) Ahmad Shah Durrani
Nader Shah's Turkmen Afsharid rule ended in June 1747 after being murdered by his Persian soldiers.[10] In October of 1747, when the chiefs of the Afghans met at a loya jirga (grand council) in Kandahar to select a new ruler for the Abdali confederation, the young 25-year-old Ahmad Shah Abdali was chosen. Despite being younger than other claimants, Abdali had several overriding factors in his favor:
He was a direct descendant of Asadullah Khan, patriarch of the Sadozai clan, the most prominent tribe amongst the Pashtun people at the time;
He was unquestionably a charismatic leader and seasoned warrior who had at his disposal a trained, mobile force of 4,000 loyal cavalrymen;[7]
Not least, he possessed a substantial part of Nadir Shah's treasury.
One of Abdali's first acts as chief was to adopt the title Padshah durr-i durrān ('King, "pearl of the age"[11] or "pearl of pearls").[7] The name may have been suggested, as some claim, from Abdali's dream, or as others claim, from the pearl earrings worn by the royal guard of Nadir Shah. The Abdali Pashtuns were known thereafter as the Durrani, and the name of the Abdali confederation was changed to Durrani .
Third Battle of Panipat
Main article: Third Battle of Panipat
The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb, who died in 1707; In 1751-52, Ahamdiya treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals, when Balaji Bajirao was the Peshwa.[14] Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled virtually the whole of India from their capital at Pune and Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (the Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India. Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent Raghunathrao. He succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule.[15] Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad was forced to return to India and face the formidable attacks of the Maratha Confederacy.
Ahmad Shah declared a jihad (or Islamic holy war) against the Marathas, and warriors from various Pashtun tribes, as well as other tribes such as the Baloch, Tajiks, and Nawabs in India, answered his call. Early skirmishes were followed by victory for the Afghans against the smaller Maratha garrisons in Northwest India and by 1759 Ahmad and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Third Battle of Panipat (January 1761), fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies was waged along a twelve-kilometer front. Despite decisively defeating the Marathas, what might have been Ahmad Shah's peaceful control of his domains was disrupted by other challenges.
[edit]Decline
Afghan royal soldiers of the Durrani Empire.
The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah's—and Afghan—power. His Durrani empire was one of the largest Islamic empires in the world at that time.[16] However, even prior to his death, the empire began to unravel. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to subdue the Sikhs. He assaulted Lahore and, after taking their holy city of Amritsar, massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroying their revered Golden Temple. Within two years, the Sikhs rebelled again and rebuilt their holy city of Amritsar. Ahmad Shah tried several more times to subjugate the Sikhs permanently, but failed.
Ahmad Shah also faced other rebellions in the north, and eventually he and the Uzbek Emir of Bukhara agreed that the Amu Darya would mark the division of their lands. Ahmad Shah retired to his home in the mountains east of Kandahar, where he died on (April 14, 1773).[17] He had succeeded to a remarkable degree in balancing tribal alliances and hostilities, and in directing tribal energies away from rebellion. He earned recognition as Ahmad Shah Baba, or "Father" of Afghanistan.[6][9]
The main cause of the decline of the Durrani Empire was relentless efforts of the Sikhs. After suffering at the hands of the Afghans the Sikhs reunited, and as more and more Hindus converted to Sikhism, their army increased and they were able to re-capture Amritsar (1802), Ludhiana (1806), Multan, Kashmir, Laddakh, Peshawar, the Khyber Pass and Lahore. By the time Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire died, the Sikhs had taken almost all of Pakistan and Kashmir from the Afghans. Dost Mohammad of the Afghans put up much resistance, even defeating Ranjit Singh in Kandahar, but that did not stop the Sikhs from capturing Peshawar. Dost Mohammad and the Afghans were defeated in 1814, giving the Sikhs control of the strategically important Khyber Pass.[18][19]
The last Sikh-Afghan battle was fought in 1837. The construction of Fort Jamrud next to Afghanistan made the Durrani rulers feel that Kabul was insecure, so Dost Muhammad and Akbar Khan led an attack on that fort. This failed however, and the Sikhs not only saved Fort Jamrud but also captured the Khyber Pass, which connects Pakistan and Afghanistan. The death of Hari Singh was the only solace for the Afghans. After this, the death of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh-Anglo war stopped the Sikh Empire from growing any further.
Forming a nation
By the time of Ahmad Shah's ascendancy, the Pashtuns included many groups whose origins were obscure; it is commonly believed they descended from ancient Aryan tribes, some, such as the Ghilzai, believe they may have intermingled with Turks, and some believe to be descendents of the Israelites that might have settled in the Pashtun areas. The Durranis are Persianized in culture due to their contacts with the nearby Persians. What they had in common was their education and love of Islam. To the east, the Waziris and their close relatives, the Mahsuds, had lived in the hills of the central Sulaiman Mountains since the 14th century. By the end of the 16th century, when the final Turkish-Mongol invasions occurred, tribes such as the Shinwaris, Yusufzais and Mohmands had moved from the upper Kabul River valley into the valleys and plains west, north, and northeast of Peshawar. The Afridis had long been established in the hills and mountain ranges south of the Khyber Pass. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Durranis had blanketed the area west and north of Kandahar and were to be found as far east as Quetta, Baluchistan.
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