afghanistanA year later, in the autumn of 1748, Nur Muhammad Khan ‘Alizai, the
former head of Nadir Shah’s ‘Abdali ulus and the individual Ahmad Shah
had humiliatingly supplanted in 1747, conspired to assassinate him with
the help of Muhabbat Khan Popalzai, Kadu Khan, another member of
the king’s tribal council, and ‘Osman Khan, Ahmad Shah’s topchi bashi,
or head of artillery. Their plan was to lure Ahmad Shah to a lonely place
outside Kandahar and put him to death, but one of the conspirators
betrayed them. Nur Muhammad Khan and the other ringleaders were
arrested, taken to the same spot where they planned to assassinate the
king and executed. According to Ferrier, ten men from each of their tribes
were then selected at random and executed. 23 These executions created
even more discontent among the tribal aristocracy, with some openly
challenging the king’s right to put to death Nur Muhammad Khan and
other senior Durranis.
Less than a year later Darwish ‘Ali Khan, head of the Sunni Hazaras and
governor of Herat, rebelled, a revolt probably precipitated by Ahmad Shah’s
defeat in Persian Khurasan. This uprising too was quickly suppressed and
Darwish ‘Ali was imprisoned. When Ahmad Shah left to pursue his next
campaign in India he took Darwish ‘Ali with him and, since he acquitted
himself honourably, he was pardoned. In 1764, Darwish ‘Ali Khan rebelled
again but was defeated and imprisoned for a second time. 24 In 1759 another
of Ahmad Shah’s allies, Nasir Khan, beglar begi of Kalat, also declared
independence and Shah Wali Khan had to be sent to deal with this revolt.
Unable to defeat the Baluch or take Kalat by storm, Ahmad Shah agreed to
let Nasir Khan remain as beglar begi of Kalat. A few months later a certain
Mir Khush Khan Durrani, ‘instigated by a dervish’, declared himself ‘King
of Afghanistan’. Once again the uprising was crushed, the darwish executed
and Mir Khush Khan Durrani blinded. 25 Less than a year later another
pretender, Hajji Jamal Khan Zargarani, set himself up as king in Kandahar
and even struck coins in his name. Like other such coups, this revolt was
precipitated by reports that Ahmad Shah had been killed in battle but when
it was clear this was not the case, Hajji Jamal Khan Zargarani renounced
his claim to the throne and ‘retired’, probably fleeing for his life to a remote
part of the country. 26
Ahmad Shah’s relentless military campaigns, and the internal chal-
lenges he faced from his own clan and tribe, eventually took a terrible toll
on his health, which was further undermined by the suppurating wound
in his nasal cavity, which defied all attempts to heal it. The ulcer eventually
ate into his brain and became so infested with maggots that they dropped
into his mouth when he ate. By the summer of 1772 Ahmad Shah had