nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47power was concentrated in his and his sons’ hands. The shift to a central-
ized autocracy was extended to the judicial system, with Dost Muhammad
Khan reviving the tradition of public audiences where he adjudicated on
complaints and acted as both judge and jury. To all intents and purposes,
under Dost Muhammad Khan government became a family enterprise,
with the country run more on the lines of an Arab sheikhdom than a
European nation state, a situation that would be perpetuated until the fall
of the Musahiban dynasty in 1978.
The civil war between Sher ‘Ali Khan and Muhammad Afzal KhanDost Muhammad Khan had fathered dozens of children from his many
wives and any hopes that there would be a peaceful transition of power on
his death were soon dashed. Sher ‘Ali Khan, the heir apparent, was recog-
nized as Amir in Herat but his right to the throne was contested by his
half-brother Afzal Khan, the Amir’s eldest son, and Afzal’s uterine brother
Muhammad ‘Azam Khan. The trouble began as soon as news of the Amir’s
death was announced, when the Khanabad garrison in Qataghan rebelled
and declared support for ‘Azam Khan. The Mir Ataliq of Qunduz and Mir
Jahandar Khan of Badakhshan tried to exploit the conflict by attempting
to regain control over Qunduz, only to be defeated by Afzal Khan’s son
‘Abd al-Rahman Khan.
As soon as Sher ‘Ali Khan had completed the funeral rites for his father
he set out for Kabul, leaving his fourteen-year-old son Ya‘qub Khan in
charge of Herat. Afzal Khan’s younger brother, ‘Azam Khan, however, made
excuses for not accompanying the Amir and, once he was on the road to
Kandahar, headed for Kabul by the shorter, Hazarajat route, hoping to
reach the capital before his half-brother and seize control. However, when
he heard that Kabul was well defended by Muhammad ‘Ali Khan, Sher ‘Ali’s
eldest son, ‘Azam Khan went instead to the Logar and raised an army, but
was defeated and fled to the protection of his mother’s tribe in Khost. ‘Azam
Khan then sent envoys to ask Sher ‘Ali Khan’s forgiveness. When the Amir
demanded he come in person to pledge his allegiance and reside in Kabul,
he refused. Instead he sent his son Sarwar Khan as a hostage for his good
behaviour, only for the Amir’s spies to discover, in the nick of time, that
Sarwar Khan was plotting to assassinate him.
Afzal Khan, governor of Balkh, also refused to come in person to Kabul
and pledge his allegiance, but he did order Sher ‘Ali Khan’s name to be read
in the khutba and sent gifts and letters expressing his loyalty. However, in
secret he and his brother conspired to seize the throne. In the spring of 1864