Periodic attempts were made to gain independence. In 1709 Mirwais Khan, a leader of the Hotak , led a successful rising against
Gorgin Khan, the Persian governor of Qandahar.
The Hotakis.Mirwais 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, Mirwais'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.
The Durrani DynastyThecommander 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). Afterthe 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 inducedFath 'Ali Shah of Persia to bring pressure upon the Afghan king and divert his attention from India. The
shah went a step further, helpingMahmud, 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.