nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47Khan had no choice but to break off operations against the Sikhs and return
to Peshawar, where they assembled what forces they could muster and sent
them post-haste to Kabul. After a series of battles on the outskirts of the
capital Shah Mahmud was victorious: the ringleaders were captured and
sentenced to death by being crushed by an elephant.
Khwaja Khanji escaped execution and fled to his stronghold in
Kohistan. A few months later Fateh Khan’s half-brother, Dost Muhammad
Khan, and a corps of Qizilbash marched into Koh Daman to deal with
the rebels. From his base in Charikar, Dost Muhammad laid waste to the
Koh Daman, Kohistan and Tagab, burning crops and destroying orchards
and vineyards. When Khwaja Khanji still refused to submit to the king’s
authority, Dost Muhammad used flattery, offers of a royal pardon and the
prospect of a marriage alliance with the king’s family. Having lured the pir
and other leaders of Kohistan into his clutches, Dost Muhammad Khan
had them all beheaded. Khwaja Khanji’s two sons, however, remained at
large and continued to be a thorn in the flesh for Dost Muhammad Khan
and later the British.
On the Durrani’s western frontier, the confrontation between Persia
and Herat was renewed. In 1814, following a series of defeats by Russian
forces, Fath ‘Ali Shah capitulated. Under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan,
Persia surrendered all claim to sovereignty over Daghestan, Georgia,
Karabagh, most of Azerbaijan and northern Armenia. Two years later,
Hajji Firoz al-Din, counting on Persia’s military weakness, declared Herat’s
independence and reoccupied Ghuriyan, only for Fath ‘Ali Shah to march
out against him, regain control of Ghuriyan and force Hajji Firoz al-Din
to acknowledge Persian suzerainty. However, in 1818, when Fath ‘Ali Shah
demanded additional tribute, Hajji Firoz al-Din rebelled once more and
sent his son Shah Husain to Kabul to petition Shah Mahmud for assistance.
Wazir Fateh Khan seized on Hajji Firoz’s request as a golden oppor-
tunity to kill two birds with one stone: he could send an army to Herat
and bring the province back under Shah Mahmud’s authority, but at the
same time depose Hajji Firoz and appoint one of his brothers to govern
this strategic province, so extending his monopoly on power. Fateh Khan
assembled an army of 15,000 men and, accompanied by Dost Muhammad
Khan and the Dil brothers, reached Herat at the end of April 1818. He then
tricked Firoz al-Din into allowing himself and a contingent of soldiers to
enter the city. Once inside the town, Fateh Khan arrested Firoz al-Din, put a
number of officials to death and opened the city gates. The soldiers poured
in, plundering, raping and killing the city’s inhabitants, while Fateh Khan
and Dost Muhammad Khan broke into Firoz al-Din’s zanana, tore jewels