nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47Uzbeks in Nadir Shah’s army, which later became incorporated into the
king’s personal guard, where Hajji Bi and Ahmad Shah struck up some kind
of an alliance. Following the assassination of Nadir Shah, Hajji Bi fought
alongside Ahmad Shah’s ghazis and the evidence suggests that the two
men made some sort of ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ not to attack each other.
Hajji Bi quickly regained control of the Chahar Wilayat and eventu-
ally occupied Balkh, expelling Nadir Shah’s governor and subjugating the
Qizilbash garrisons. All the Uzbek amirs, from the Murghab to Qataghan,
then reaffirmed their historic allegiance to the Khan of Bukhara. In Bukhara
itself, ‘Abu’l-Faiz Khan was deposed by his ataliq, Rahim Bi Manghit,
who had also served in the army of Nadir Shah. A year or so after taking
control of the city of Balkh, Hajji Bi was defeated by his rival Hazara Bi of
Qataghan, possibly with the support of Rahim Bi. In 1751, following Ahmad
Shah’s first campaign in Persian Khurasan, Hajji Bi and the amirs of the
Chahar Wilayat came to Herat to seek Durrani support against Qataghan
and complained about the oppression of Rahim Bi’s officials, hinting that
the presence of Bukharan officials beyond the Murghab posed a threat to
the Durrani frontier post of Maruchak and Herat. In response Ahmad Shah
sent ‘Ata Allah Khan Turkman and a force of several thousand Qizilbash
across the Murghab. In return for this military assistance, Hajji Bi agreed
to pay Ahmad Shah a share of Balkh’s revenues. Ahmad Shah, for his
part, recognized Hajji Bi as sahib-i ikhtiyar, or chief collector of taxes of
the region and wali of Balkh. There is little detail in the sources about the
The perimeter walls of Balkh, ancient capital of what is now northern Afghanistan. These
walls are mostly Timurid, though excavations have indicated pre-Islamic foundations.