afghan sultanates, 1260–1732
Two years later a Persian army of around 35,000 men, including an
artillery train commanded by European officers, set out to reclaim Herat.
The two sides met at Kafir Qal‘a, the modern frontier post of Islam Qal‘a.
The Persians tried to overawe the Afghans by an artillery barrage, but ’Asad
Allah Khan had anticipated this move and had placed his men behind
the trees of nearby orchards and in irrigation ditches. When the Persian
infantry advanced they were met with withering flanking fire. After several
hours of bitter fighting, a Persian gunner accidentally set fire to the powder
magazine and the artillery, blinded by smoke, began to fire on their own
infantry. Seeing the Persian lines in disarray, ’Asad Allah Khan ordered
his cavalry to charge and the Persians turned and fled. When their general
saw that the battle was lost, he mounted a barrel of gunpowder and blew
himself up.
Following this victory, ’Asad Allah Khan urged his father to march
on Mashhad but instead Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan ordered him to attack
Kandahar, punish the Hotaks for their treachery and reclaim Safa and
Arghasan. ’Asad Allah objected and the dispute between father and son
became so heated that Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan asked a local dervish to
mediate, only for him to declare in favour of the Kandahar campaign. In
Multan, ‘Abd Allah Khan’s father, Hayat Khan, also lent his support to the
Safa campaign, sending his son a poem in which he declared: ‘in the place
where there was the smell of bad blood (or humiliation) is weakness’. 44
In an attempt to stave off the attack by ’Asad Allah Khan, Shah Mahmud
Hotaki, who was also threatened by a Persian army, sent ambassadors to
Herat and proposed an Afghan alliance against Persia and offered to restore
Safa and Arghasan. Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan, though, demanded Shah
Mahmud come in person to Herat and sue for pardon. The Hotaki ruler,
however, was not prepared to undergo this humiliation and recalled his
ambassadors. ’Asad Allah Khan then set out for the Helmand and in August
1720 the ‘Abdali and Ghilzai armies clashed at Dilaram. The outcome of
the battle remained in the balance for many hours until ’Asad Allah was
shot in the back by a man who was settling an old score with Sultan ‘Abd
Allah Khan’s family. ‘Abd Allah Khan’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Zaman
Khan, the only surviving son of Daulat Khan, took charge of the army and
retreated to Farah. The following day ’Asad Allah’s body was taken to Herat
and buried in the Bagh-i Rauza.
Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan was deeply affected by his son’s death and for
nearly a year he plunged into profound depression and neglected affairs
of state. It was only in early 1721, when another Persian army was sent to
take Herat, that ‘Abd Allah Khan shook off his grief, rallied his troops
nandana
(Nandana)
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