The Fall of Kabul and Peshawar

With Kandahar under his belt, ASD was keen on capturing the other major cities of Afghanistan such as Ghazni, Herat, Peshawar, and Kabul. Nadir Shah’s representative ruled Herat, and ASD perhaps due to his feelings for Nadir Shah, left Herat for a later date. His campaign must have started at Ghazni. The governor of Ghazni was an appointee of Nadir Shah and he tried to oppose ASD but gave up soon.

The Fall of Kabul

Nawab Nasir Khan was the wazir (governor) of Kabul. Kabul was initially part of the Moghul empire but was ceded to Nadir Shah after his conquest of the Moghuls in 1739. Nasir Khan’s father was the Governor of Kabul during the time of Aurangzeb, and Nasir Khan became the Governor after his father’s demise. After ASD became the emperor, Nasir Kahn, ASD imprisoned and released him when he pledged to keep his son under ASD in return of his good behavior. (From the known sources of history, ASD had not fully conquered Kabul but must have had enough support inside Kabul to imprison Nasir Khan.). Nasir Khan, however, he had no intention of fulfilling his promise and sought help from other tribes to fight ASD.

Realizing that Nasir was raising an army, ASD wrote to all the tribal chiefs in Afghanistan, and they all assured him of their support. Particularly, the tribes in Kabul also assured him that they would support him. Nasir Khan finally realized that he was not equipped enough to fight ASD and fled to Peshawar leaving Kabul under his deputy. His deputy couldn’t hold out against ASD for too long and after a few days left for Peshawar. Kabul finally fell and came under ASD.

ASD asked his Commander in Chief Jahan Khan to purse Nasir Khan. Peshawar is southeast of Khyber Pass and Nasir tried to defend himself from the Afghans who were coming from Northwest under Jahan Khan. NK couldn’t hold out too long against ASD’s forces and finally fled Peshawar and sought protection and support from Shah Nawaz Khan (SNK) who was the Moghul’s wazir at that time.