LAST AFGHAN EMPIRE
Overthrow of foreign rule
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.
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 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 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.
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