afghan sultanates, 1260–1732Despite this success, Mughal control over Kandahar was weak and
was further undermined by Shah Jahan’s decision to go to war with Nazr
Muhammad Khan, the Tuqay-Timurid Khan of Balkh. Though the inva-
sion initially went well and Nazr Muhammad Khan was defeated, the
Mughal lines of communication were overextended and the population
refused to feed the army or pay taxes. In October 1647, faced with the
prospect of a second winter of hardship, the Mughals handed Balkh back
to Nazr Muhammad Khan and abandoned the province for good.
Nazr Muhammad had fled to Persia, where Shah ‘Abbas ii agreed
to provide military support so he could regain control of Balkh. When
he set out to reclaim his kingdom, he was accompanied by a substantial
Persian army. While Nazr Muhammad Khan and the main army set out
for Maimana, another column, supported by Khudakka Khan Saddozai,
headed south and besieged Kandahar. The city finally fell in February 1649
and despite three subsequent attempts by the Mughals to regain control
of the city, Kandahar and Herat remained under Safavid sovereignty. As
for Shah Husain Saddozai, he made his home in Multan, ‘the doorway
to the kingdom of Kandahar’, 34 where he was appointed as nawab of the
province and founded a dynasty that ruled the area until 1818. Multan
thus became a haven for Saddozais fleeing the increasingly bloody power
struggle between rival clan members in Herat and Kandahar. Among the
prominent Saddozais born in Multan was Ahmad Shah Durrani.
Kabul’s former royal citadel, the Bala Hisar citadel, looking westwards
over the Hashmat Khan lake.