nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47watched as members of his family were executed and his wife gang-raped.
When Taqi Beg heard about Nadir Shah’s assas sination – Ahmad Shah
probably produced the Koh-i Nur and signet ring as proof – he agreed to
join forces with Ahmad Shah and was rewarded with a share of the Sind
treasure. Taqi Beg then persuaded the Qizilbash garrison in Kandahar not
to oppose the Afghan takeover and they too declared support for Ahmad
Shah; doubtless they too were given some of the Sind treasure as an incen-
tive. In all the Qizilbash numbered around 12,000 men and later Ahmad
Shah appointed them as part of his ghulam khana, or royal guard. Nawab
Nasir Khan, the Mughal governor of Kabul, was also in the Sind convoy,
though he showed less enthusiasm initially in joining the ‘Abdali enterprise
and was imprisoned. A few days later he was released after he agreed to
pay Ahmad Shah an annual tribute of 500,000 rupees in return for being
reconfirmed as governor of Kabul under ‘Abdali sovereignty.
The Sind treasure fortuitously provided Ahmad Shah with a substantial
war chest that he used to buy loyalties and reward his ghazis. The advocacy
of Taqi Beg also meant Ahmad Shah now commanded a sizeable force
of at least 18,000 men as well as war elephants, the eighteenth-century
equivalent of a tank corps. His position was unassailable, for this army
could overawe any opposition from local Afghan and Baluch tribes. On
the back of this stroke of good fortune, Ahmad Shah convened a military
council of nine men, seven of whom were the commanders of Nadir Shah’s
‘Abdali ulus. The names of these seven amirs were Nur Muhammad Khan
‘Alizai, ‘Abd Allah Khan ‘Ayubzai, Shah Wali Khan Bamezai, Hajji Jamal
Khan Barakzai, Mus‘a Khan Ishaqzai, whose nickname was Dungi, Nasar
Allah Khan Nurzai and Muhabbat Khan Popalzai. The eighth member
of the council represented the Tokhi Ghilzai ulus that had also fought in
Nadir Shah’s army, while the only non-Afghan representative was Nasir
Khan of Kalat, an ethnic Brahui, who had also served under Nadir Shah.
The object of their deliberations was to negotiate the distribution of state
offices among themselves prior to a public declaration of an independent
Saddozai kingdom.
Nationalist historians, as well as most European ones, claim this
meeting took place in the shrine of Sher-i Surkh. Contemporary sources,
however, make no mention of this location and it is certainly a myth
invented in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century to support the
legitimacy of the Muhammadzais, for Sher-i Surkh was the place where
Hajji Jamal Khan Barakzai, founder of their dynasty, was buried. Sher-i
Surkh is anyway a small single-domed shrine and unsuited for a gathering
of such importance. 23 More than likely, the military council met in Ahmad