afghanistanNadir Shah, and pursuing military conquest rather than establishing good
governance, a competent administration or a viable fiscal foundation for
his kingdom. It was sufficient that money continued to flow into the state
treasury and any shortfall could be supplemented by the loot and tribute
acquired on his campaigns. Indeed, Ahmad Shah spent relatively little of his
25 years as king in his capital of Kandahar and for most of his reign he was
campaigning thousands of kilometres from his capital, returning only in
order to suppress rebellions. In all Ahmad Shah fought fifteen major military
campaigns: nine in northern India, three in Persian Khurasan and three in
the Uzbek appanage of Balkh, or Turkistan as it was known to the Afghans.
The revolt of Nawab Nasir Khan and Ahmad Shah’s first invasion
of the PunjabA matter of weeks after being proclaimed king Ahmad Shah faced the
first of many internal challenges to his authority: Nawab Nasir Khan, the
former Mughal governor of Kabul, who had been allowed to return to
Kabul as governor after submitting to Ahmad Shah’s authority; in return
he pledged to pay 50,000 rupees in tribute. However, when he attempted to
raise this sum from the surrounding Ghilzai tribes, they refused to accept
‘Abdali sovereignty and made it clear they would only pay taxes to their
legitimate sovereign, Muhammad Shah, in Delhi. Faced with a ser ious
Ghilzai revolt, Nawab Nasir Khan threw off the ‘Abdali yoke and sent
Ahmad Shah’s minders back to Kandahar empty-handed. He then went
to Peshawar where he recruited additional Uzbek levies and appealed to
Muhammad Shah to send money and reinforcements to defend the Mughal
outpost against ‘Abdali aggression.
In the late autumn of 1747 Ahmad Shah, having appointed his nephew
Luqman Khan as his deputy in Kandahar during his absence, marched up
the Ghazni road to bring Nawab Nasir Khan to heel, only for his advance
to be opposed by his erstwhile allies, the Tokhi Ghilzai, in their stronghold
of Qalat-i Ghilzai. Ahmad Shah’s troops stormed the citadel and five of
the most senior Tokhi maliks were executed, so ending his fleeting alliance
with this tribe. 4 An ‘Abdali governor was installed and over the next decade
the ‘Abdalis annexed large tracts of Tokhi land in the fertile Tarnak valley.
Ghazni offered only token resistance and Ahmad Shah sent envoys
to the Sulaiman Khel Ghilzais of the region to secure their support for
his campaign against Nawab Nasir Khan. Taqi Khan then wrote to the
Qizilbash garrison in Kabul’s Bala Hisar, offering them a share of the spoils
of war, appointments to offices of state and the right of self-governance