afghanistanAhmad Shah then marched on Mashhad while Sardar Jahan Khan
and Nasir Khan of Kalat advanced on Turbat-i Shaikh Jam, but despite
taking the strategic frontier post of Nun, Mashhad withstood all attempts
by the Afghans to storm the walls. In the end Shah Rukh Mirza went in
person to Ahmad Shah’s camp, acknowledged Durrani sovereignty and
was allowed to remain as ruler in return for payment of a substantial
tribute. Ahmad Shah’s next objective was Mazandaran and Gilan, where
Muhammad Husain Khan Qajar and the Ghilzai chieftain Azad Khan
Hotaki, a descendant of Mir Wa’is, had carved out independent fiefdoms
and were threatening to attack Mashhad. 13 While Shah Pasand Khan
marched into Mazandaran, Ahmad Shah set out for Nishapur, but its gover-
nor, Ja‘far Khan, refused to surrender despite having only a few thousand
men under his command. Ahmad Shah placed the town under siege, but
a few weeks later messengers arrived to inform the king that Shah Pasand
Khan had been defeated. Realizing that Muhammad Husain Khan Qajar
would be marching to the relief of Nishapur, Ahmad Shah ordered his
Durrani commanders to storm the walls. A sustained artillery bombard-
ment eventually breached the city’s defences but overnight the defenders
dug deep, well-concealed pits behind the breach. When the storming party
attacked the following morning they literally fell into the trap. In the bitter
hand-to-hand fighting that ensued Ja‘far Khan was slain but his eighteen-
year-old nephew, ‘Abbas Quli, took command, rallied his troops and threw
Qal’a-yi Nau, the provincial centre of Badghis and the former centre of the Sunni Hazaras,
one of the Chahar Aimaq tribes. The town and region still has a large Aimaq population.