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The Durrani Empire was a state in present day Afghanistan. From 1747 until 1823 Ahmad Shah and his sons and grandsons held the monarchy. They were the first Pashtun rulers of Afghanistan, from the Sadozai line of the Abdali group of clans. It was under the leadership of Ahmad Shah that the nation of Afghanistan began to take shape following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation. Even before the death of the Iranian ruler Nadir Shah, tribes in the Hindu Kush had been growing stronger and were beginning to take advantage of the waning power of their distant rulers.
In 1747 Ahmad Shah and his Abdali horsemen joined the chiefs of the Abdali tribes and clans near Kandahar to choose a leader. Despite being younger than other claimants, Ahmad had several overriding factors in his favor. He was a direct descendant of Sado, eponym of the Sadozai; he was unquestionably a charismatic leader and seasoned warrior who had at his disposal a trained, mobile force of several thousand cavalrymen; and he possessed part of Nadir Shah's treasury.
One of Ahmad Shah's first acts as chief was to adopt the title "Durr-i-Durrani" ("pearl of pearls" or "pearl of the age"), which may have come from a dream or from the pearl earrings worn by the royal guard of Nadir Shah. The Abdali Pashtuns were known thereafter as the Durrani.
Ahmad Shah began by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzai Pashtuns , and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler. In 1749 the MughalThe Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul which is the origin of the word Mogul of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodhi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. It was largely conquered by Sher Shah ruler ceded sovereignty over SindhSindh Sind is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Neighbouring regions are Balochistan to the west and north, Punjab in the north and Rajasthan ( India) to the east. To the south are the Arabian Sea and the Rann of Kutch. Sindh is the third largest pro Province and the areas of northern IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy. west of the Indus RiverThe Indus ( (known as Sindhu in ancient times) is the principal river of Pakistan. It originates in Tibet, flowing from the Himalayas in a north-westerly direction, and then turning south for nearly the entire length of Pakistan. The Indus Valley Civiliza to Ahmad Shah in order to save his capital from Afghan attack. Ahmad Shah then set out westward to take possession of HeratHert is a city in western Afghanistan, in the valley of the Hari Rud river in the province also known as Herat and was traditionally known for wine. The inhabitants are mainly Tajiks. It is an ancient city with many historic buildings, although these have, which was ruled by Nadir Shah's grandson, Shah Rukh. Herat fell to Ahmad after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict, as did MashhadMashhad ( in Persian) is a city located 850 kilometers East of Tehran, Iran, and the center of the province of Khorasan. Mashhad has a population of more than 2. It is the capital of Khorasan province. Imam Reza (the eighth Shi'ite Imam) is buried in this (in present-day Iran). Ahmad 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, Uzbek, Tajik, and Hazara tribes of northern Afghanistan. Ahmad invaded India a third, then a fourth, time, taking control of the Punjab, Kashmir, and the city of Lahore. Early in 1757, he sacked Delhi, but permitted the Mughal Dynasty to remain in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad's suzerainty over the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. Leaving his second son Timur Shah in charge, Ahmad left India to return to Afghanistan.
The collapse of Mughal control in India, however, also facilitated the rise of rulers other than Ahmad Shah. In the Punjab, the Sikhs were becoming a potent force. From their capital at Pune, the Marathas, Hindus who controlled much of western and central India, were beginning to look northward to the decaying Mughal empire, which Ahmad Shah now claimed by conquest. Upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad faced Maratha attacks which succeeded in ousting Timur and his court in India.
Ahmad Shah declared an Islamic holy war against the Marathas, and warriors from various Pashtun tribes, as well as other tribes such as the Baloch, answered his call. Early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans, and by 1759 Ahmad and his army had reached Lahore. By 1760 the Maratha groups had coalesced into a great army. Once again Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Battle of Panipat in 1761 between Muslim and Hindu armies who numbered as many as 100,000 troops each was fought 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.
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, perhaps second after the Ottoman Empire. Afterward, even prior to his death, the empire began to unravel. By the end of 1761, the Sikhs had gained power and taken control of much of the Punjab. 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 temples and desecrating their holy places with cow's blood. Within two years the Sikhs rebelled again. Ahmad Shah tried several more times to subjugate the Sikhs permanently, but failed. By the time of his death, he had lost all but nominal control of the Punjab to the Sikhs, who remained in charge of the area until defeated by the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846.
Ahmad Shah also faced other rebellions in the north, and eventually he and the amir of Bukhara agreed that the Amu Darya would mark the division of their lands. In 1772 Ahmad Shah retired to his home in the mountains east of Kandahar, where he died. Ahmad Shah 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.
By the time of Ahmad Shah's ascendancy, the Pashtuns included many groups whose origins were obscure; most were believed to have descended from ancient Aryan tribes, but some, such as the Ghilzai, may have once been Turks. They had in common, however, their Pashtu language. To the east, the Waziris and their close relatives, the Mahsuds , had lived in the hills of the central Suleiman Range since the fourteenth century. By the end of the sixteenth century and the final Turkish- Mongol invasions, 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.
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