nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47The assassination of Shah Shuja‘ and the battle for KabulAlmost as soon as British forces began the evacuation of Kabul, the various
factions began to fight among themselves for supremacy. 36 Shah Shuja‘
was still king, though in name only, for his writ did not run beyond the
walls of the Bala Hisar and he hoped against hope that the British would
send a relief army to Kabul, reassert its authority and punish Akbar Khan
and the other rebels. As for Akbar Khan, he left the capital to preside over
the destruction of the British and then besieged Jalalabad, leaving Nawab
Zaman Khan the effective ruler in Kabul. In mid-January 1842 the various
factions agreed that Shah Shuja‘ could remain as king with Nawab Zaman
Khan as wazir and ’Amin Allah Khan Logari as his deputy. It was a brittle
compromise that lasted a matter of weeks.
Meanwhile Shah Shuja‘ came under pressure from Mir Hajji, who
demanded he take command of the Kohistani ghazis and combine with
Akbar Khan to defeat Sale and confront Pollock. The king did not trust
Mir Hajji and refused to leave the safety of the Bala Hisar. In early April
Mir Hajji, hearing Pollock was advancing on Jalalabad, sent the king an
ultimatum; either lead his mujahidin against the British or he would issue a
fatwa declaring the king to be ‘an infidel and friend of infidels’. Shah Shuja‘
capitulated, but only after Nawab Zaman Khan sent his wife to him with
an oath sealed on a Qur’an, vowing to protect him from harm. Two days
later Shah Shuja‘ left the Bala Hisar accompanied by a handful of Indian
retainers, but he was waylaid by Shuja‘ al-Daula, Nawab Zaman Khan’s son,
and some sixty ‘adventurers’, who shot him in cold blood. For three days
the king’s body was left to rot in a ditch until it was finally buried in an
unmarked grave near the mausoleum of his father, Timur Shah. According
to Vincent Eyre, one of the British hostages, Shah Shuja‘ al-Mulk’s assas-
sination had been instigated by Dost Muhammad Khan, a Ghilzai chief,
in retribution for an earlier attempt on Akbar Khan’s life.
The king’s assassination was universally condemned by the popu-
lace, especially since Nawab Zaman Khan had vowed to protect him. In
an attempt to redeem his reputation, Nawab Zaman Khan disinherited
Shuja‘ al-Daula and banished him from his presence. Shah Shuja‘ al-Mulk’s
eldest son, Fath Jang, succeeded his father, but his authority did not extend
beyond the walls of the Bala Hisar, while outside the citadel walls Nawab
Zaman Khan, Mir Hajji and ’Amin Allah Khan Logari fought each other
for control of the Afghan capital. Shah Fath Jang demanded that Mir Hajji
and ’Amin Allah Khan avenge his father’s death and they attacked Nawab
Zaman Khan. The latter, however, bought off Mir Hajji by handing over