Ahmad Shah Durrani ( founder of Afghanistan )

Ahmad Shah Durrani was the founder of Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah Durrani is the National Hero of Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah Durrani, also known as Ahmad Khan Abdali, was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan.

Ahmad Shah made by young soldier in the army of the kingdom Afsharid and quickly rose to become a commander of four thousand soldiers Abdali Pashtuns. After the death of Nader Shah Afshar of Persia in June 1747, Abdali became the king of Afghanistan. Gathering Pashtun tribes and their allies pushed east toward the Mughal and Maratha empire in India, west to the disintegration of the empire of Persia Afsharid, and north to the Khanate of Bukhara. In a few years, control of Afghanistan from Khorasan in western Kashmir and northern India in the east was expanded, and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. mausoleum of Ahmad Shah is located in Kandahar, Afghanistan, near the chapel of the layer in the center of the city. Afghans often refer to him as Ahmad Shah baba ( "Ahmad Shah Father").

Early years

Ahmad Shah was born in 1722 Muhammad Zaman Khan has Abdali, the head of the Abdalis and governor of Herat, and Zarghuna Alakozai. It is believed that Durrani was born in the city of Herat in today's Afghanistan. Some say he was born in Multan in the Mughal Empire (now in Pakistan) and taken as a baby with his mother Zarghuna Alakozai to the city of Herat, where his father served as governor. On the contrary, several historians say he was born in Herat. One of the historians was based on primary sources as Mahmud-ul-Musanna Tarikh-i-Ahmad Shahi Imam of 1753 and-Uddin al-Hussaini Tarikh-i-Hussain Shahi 1798.

The father of Ahmad Shah Zaman Khan Abdali, died in a battle with the Hotakis around the time of birth of Ahmad Shah. His family was of the Sadozai section Abdalis Popalzai clan. Ahmad Shah's mother was Clan Alakozai the Abdalis. In 1729, after the invasion of Nader Shah, the young Ahmad Shah fled with his family south of Kandahar and took refuge with Ghilzais. He and his brother, Zulfikar, were subsequently imprisoned inside a fortress by Hussain Hotaki, the governor of Kandahar Ghilzai. Hussain Shah sent a powerful tribe of the Pashtun fighters, having conquered the eastern part of Persia in 1722 with his brother Mahmud Hotaki, and stepped on the throne of Persian Safavids.

Around 1731, Nader Shah Afshar, the new ruler increase in Persia, began enlisting the Abdali Pashtun from Herat in his army. After the conquest of Kandahar in 1738, Ahmad Shah and his brother were freed by Nader Shah and always with the major races in his administration. The Ghilzais were expelled from the city of Kandahar and Abdalis began to settle in the city.

Commander in the Afsharid military

Ahmad Shah proved himself in the service of Nader Shah and was promoted to a personal assistant (yasāwal) to command a cavalry of Abdali tribe members. He quickly rose to send a cavalry contingent estimated at four thousand men, composed mainly Abdalis in the service of the Shah on his invasion of India.

The popular story says that the brilliant but megalomaniac Nader Shah could see the talent of his young commander. Later, according to Pashtun legend, it is said that in Delhi Nader Shah summoned Ahmad Shah, and said, "Come forward Ahmad Khan Abdali Ahmad Abdali Remember that after me the Kingship happen to you.." Nader Shah used to say in admiration that had been found in Iran, Turan and Hindustan any of these laudable talents possessed Abdali Ahmad ".

Nader Shah's rule ended abruptly in June 1747, when he was killed by his own guards. The guards involved in the murder did in secret in order to prevent Abdalis to come to the rescue of their King. However, Ahmad Shah was told that Nader Shah had been killed by one of his wives. Despite the danger of being attacked, the Abdali contingent led by Ahmad Shah rushed either to save Nader Shah or to confirm what happened. Upon arriving at the king's tent, they were only to see Nader Shah's body and severed head. Having it served so faithfully, the Abdalis wept for having failed their leader, and headed back to Kandahar. On his way back to Kandahar, the Abdalis Ahmad Shah had decided that it would be their new leader, and already began calling him as Ahmad Shah.

After the capture of Kandahar, Nadir Shah sent him to Mazandaran where the young Pashtun became governor. At the time of the death of Nadir, a contingent of Abdali Pashtuns commanded. He is realizing that his life was in danger if he stayed among the Persians who had murdered Nadir Shah, who decided to leave the Persian camp, and with its 4,000 soldiers proceeded to Kandahar. Along the way and by sheer luck, they managed to capture a caravan with the spoils of India. He and his troops were rich; on the other hand, who they were experienced fighters. In short, they formed a formidable force of young Pashtun soldiers who were loyal to their senior leader.

Rise to power

In October 1747, the heads of the Abdali tribes met near Kandahar for a Loya Jirga to choose a leader. For nine days they were held serious discussions among the candidates in the Argah. Ahmad Shah kept silent by not campaigning for himself. At last Sabir Shah, a religious figure in the area, left his sanctuary and stood before those in the Jirga and said. "He found no one worthy of leadership, except Ahmah Shah He is the most reliable and talented for work. he had Sabir's blessing for the nomination because only his shoulders could carry this responsibility. " Leaders and all agreed unanimously. Ahmad Shah was chosen to lead the Afghan tribes. Coins where struck after his coronation as King occurred near the tomb of Shaikh Surkh, adjacent to Nader Abad Fort.

Despite being younger than other claimants, Ahmad Shah had several key factors in its favor:

He was a direct descendant of Sado, patriarch of the clan Sadozai, the most prominent among the Pashtun tribe at the time;

It was undoubtedly a charismatic leader and seasoned warrior who had at his disposal a trained, mobile force of several thousand cavalrymen;

Haji Ajmal Khan, the head of the Mohammedzais (also known as Barakzais) Sadodzais were rivals, and withdrew from the election

One of the first acts of Ahmad Shah as chief was to adopt the titles Padishah-i-Ghazi ( "victorious emperor"), and Durr-i-Durrani ( "pearl of pearls" or "pearl of the age").

Forming the last Afghan empire

Following his predecessor, Ahmad Shah Durrani created a special force closest to him consisting mostly of his fellow Durrani and other Pashtuns, Tajiks, as well as qizilbash and others. Durrani began his military conquest by capturing Ghazni from Kabul Ghilzai and then boot the local ruler, and therefore strengthens its control over eastern Khorasan which is most of the current Afghanistan. Leadership of the various Afghan tribes rested mainly on the ability to provide booty for the clan, and Durrani proved remarkably successful in providing both booty and occupation of his followers. Apart from the invasion of the Punjab region three times between the years 1747-1753, captured Herat in 1750 and both Nishapur (Neyshabur) and Mashhad in 1751.

Durrani first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension - his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore during that expedition. The following year (1749), the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh and Punjab all trans Indus River including vital for him, in order to save their capital from being attacked by Afghan forces Durrani Empire. Thus obtained have substantial territories to the east without a fight, Ahmad Shah and Afghan forces turned westward to take possession of Herat, which was ruled by the grandson of Nader Shah, Shah Rukh of Persia. The city fell to Ahmad Shah in 1750, after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict; Ahmad Shah and his forces then went ahead in today's Iran, capturing Nishapur and Mashhad in 1751. He then pardoned Shah Rukh and reconstituted Khorasan, but a tributary of the Durrani Empire. This marked the western border of the Durrani Empire as established by the Pul-i-Abrisham in Mashhad-Tehran road.

Meanwhile, in the previous three years, the Sikhs had occupied the city of Lahore, and Ahmad Shah had to return in 1751 to oust them. In 1752, Ahmad Shah forces invaded and reduced Kashmir. The next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush. In short order, the powerful army brought under its control the Turkmen people, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras of northern, central and western Afghanistan. In 1752, Kashmiri nobles invited Ahmad Shah Durrani to invade the province and oust the ineffectual Mughal rulers.

Then in 1756-1757, in what was his fourth invasion of India, Ahmad Shah sacked Delhi and plundered Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan. However, it did not displace the Mughal dynasty, which remained in nominal control, as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad's sovereignty over the Punjab, Sindh and Kashmir. a puppet emperor Alamgir II, was installed on the throne of Mughal, and arranged marriages for him and his son Timur into the imperial family of the same year. He married the daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Muhammad. His suzerainity de facto was accepted by the East India Company. Leaving his second son Timur Shah (who married the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard their interests, Durrani finally left India to return to Afghanistan.

On his way back he attacked the Golden Temple of Amritsar and filled its sacred pool with the blood of slaughtered cows. Durrani captured Amritsar in 1757, and sacked the Harmandir time when the famous Baba Deep Singh and some of his followers were killed by the Afghans. This final act was to be the start of long lasting bitterness between Sikhs and Afghans.

Third battle of Panipat

Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb, who died in 1707. In 1751-1752, the Ahmadiyya treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals, when was the Peshwa Balaji Bajirao. Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled virtually all of India from their capital in Pune and Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas now striving to expand its control area to 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. So, on his return to Kandahar in 1757, amid appeals from Muslim leaders like Shah Waliullah, Ahmad Shah chose to return to India and face the Maratha Confederacy.

a jihad (Islamic holy war) against the Marathas, and warriors from various Pashtun tribes, and 25,000 Baluch warriors of several tribes joined him under the command of King of Balochistan Mir Naseer Khan Baloch Noori was declared .The first skirmishes ended Afghan victory against Baloch and smaller garrisons Marathas in northwestern India. By 1759, Durrani and his army had reached Lahore and were prepared to face the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had joined in a sufficiently large army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a battle for control of northern India. The third battle of Panipat (January 1761), fought between the armies in large Afghan and Baloch measure Abdali, largely Hindu army Maratha was fought along a front twelve kilometers, and resulted in a decisive victory for Ahmad Shah.

Kashgaria

Ahmad Shah tried to help the Muslim city of Kashgar that was being conquered by the expansion of the Qing Dynasty, trying to rally the Muslim states to check Qing expansion. Ahmad Shah halted trade with Qing China and dispatched troops to Kokand. However, with his campaigns in India exhausting the state coffers, and with his troops to limit their through Central Asia, Ahmad Shah does not have enough resources to check Qing forces. In an effort to alleviate the situation in Kashgaria, Ahmad Shah sent envoys to Beijing, but the talks did not yield favorable prospects for the people of Kashgar.

Rise of the Sikhs in the Punjab

During the third battle of Panipat between Marathas and Ahmad Shah, Sikhs not carried out with the Marathas and therefore are considered neutral in the war. This was due to the erroneous diplomacy by Marathas not to recognize its strategic potential. The exception was Ala Singh of Patiala, who sided with the Afghans and in fact was granted and casually crowned the first Sikh Maharajah in the holy Sikh temple.

After the third battle of Panipat in 1761, when the Sikhs, they return to once again take infiltrations deeper into the region finally capturing Lahore in 1764, where they established their ephemeral State Khalsa it extends from Jhelum banks of Jamuna.It that was when they rose against Muslims, whose condition was getting progressively weaker due to the appearance of the overall decline of the Mughal Empire. Sensing danger to the cause of Islam, Shah Waliullah of Delhi wrote to Ahmed Shah Abdali asking for help to their brothers in faith. This was an open call to jihad (holy war) was Mir Noori Naseer Khan Baloch again, with his army of twenty-five thousand Baloch warriors came to the aid of Ahmed Shah Abdali Against Sikhs That was a combined Muslim army Afghan and Baloch entered India defeated and crushed the Sikhs in 1765.

Death and legacy

Ahmad Shah Durrani died on October 16, 1772 Kandahar province. He was buried in the center of Kandahar city adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak, where a tomb was built. It described as follows:

Under the bright turquoise dome overlooking the sand-blown city of Kandahar is the body of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the young warrior Kandahari who in 1747 became the first king of the Durrani region. The mausoleum is covered in deep blue and white tiles behind a small clump of trees, one of which is said to cure toothache, and is a place of pilgrimage. In front of her is a small mosque with a marble dome that contains one of the most sacred relics in the Islamic world, a kherqa, Sacred Mantle of the Prophet Muhammad (SAV) which was given to Ahmad Shah by Mured Beg, the Emir of Bukhara . The Sacred layer is kept locked, taken out only in times of great crisis, but the mausoleum is open and there is a constant line of men leaving their shoes at the door and shuffled through marvel at the surprisingly long tomb marble and glass touch the box containing the bronze helmet of Ahmad Shah. Before leaving bend to kiss a length pink velvet she said to her robe. the unmistakable smell of jasmine takes.

At his grave his epitaph is written:

King senior, Ahmad Shah Durrani,

It was equal to Kisra in managing the affairs of his government.

In his time, from the fear of his glory and greatness,

The lioness feeds the deer with their milk.

Everywhere in the ear of his enemies they did not arrive

Thousand reproaches of the language of his dagger.

The date of his departure to the house of mortality

It was the year of the Hegira 1186 (1772 AD)

Ahmad Shah's victory in the Marathas influenced the history of the subcontinent and in particular British policy in the region. His refusal to continue their campaigns deeper into India prevented a confrontation with the East India Company and allowed them to continue to acquire power and influence after its acquisition of Bengal in 1757. However, fears of a new invasion of Afghanistan was to haunt British politics for nearly half a century after the battle of Panipat. Recognition of the military achievements of Abdali is reflected in a report by British intelligence in the battle of Panipat, referring to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'. This fear led in 1798 to a British envoy sent to the Persian court, in part, to incite the Persians in their demands in Herat to prevent an invasion of Afghanistan from British India. Mountstuart Elphinstone of Ahmad Shah wrote:

Their courage and military activity are spoken of with admiration, both for their own subjects and nations with which it was committed, whether in wars or alliances. It seems to have been naturally disposed to sweetness and clemency and although it is impossible to acquire and perhaps sovereign power in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; however, the memory of any Oriental prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice.

-Mountstuart Elphinstone

His successors, beginning with his son Timur and ending with Shuja Shah Durrani, were largely unable to govern the last Afghan empire and clashed with the advancing enemies everywhere. Much of the territory conquered by Ahmad Shah fell to others in the late 19th century not only lost peripherals territories but also alienated some Pashtun tribes and those of other lineages Durrani. Until the rise of Dost Mohammad Khan in 1826, chaos reigned in Afghanistan, which effectively ceased to exist as a single entity, disintegrating into a fragmented collection of small countries or units. This policy made sure that did not continue in the way of other conquerors like Babur or Muhammad of Ghor and make India the basis of his empire.

In Pakistan, a short-range ballistic missile Abdali-I, is named in honor of Ahmed Shah Abdali

Ahmad Shah's poetry

Ahmad Shah wrote a collection of odes in their native Pashto language. He was also the author of several poems in Persian. The most famous Pashto poem he wrote was the love of a nation.