nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47advancing on Sar-i Pul, Ishaq Khan concentrated his forces at Tashqurghan
so he would be in a better position to defend Mazar-i Sharif in the event the
Herat column subdued the Chahar Wilayat. This allowed Ghulam Haidar
Khan to march unopposed into Doshi and, as he pushed on to Khulm,
Ishaq Khan had no choice but to stand and fight.
The two armies finally met on 27 September 1888 at Ghaznigak, south
of the Tashqurghan gorge. Initially the battle went Ishaq Khan’s way, when
a cavalry charge caused one wing of Haidar Khan’s army to flee, but Sardar
Haidar Khan counterattacked and the rebel army gave way. Ishaq Khan,
thinking his army was in full retreat, rode off the battlefield, whereupon
the rest of the army turned and fled. On 3 October Ghulam Haidar Khan
marched into Mazar-i Sharif unopposed. Ishaq Khan fled across the Amu
Darya with those of his supporters who were able to, and spent the rest
of his days as an exile in Samarkand. Later ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan had
a plaque placed above the entrance of the shrine of Shah-i Mardan to
commemorate his victory.
The Turkistan AtrocitiesDespite being ill, ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan decided to travel to Mazar-i Sharif
to oversee the punishment of rebels and the pacification of the region.
For the next eighteen months the Amir presided over what British offi-
cials termed the ‘Turkistan Atrocities’. 27 The Amir’s wrath fell not just on
those implicated in the revolt but on any individual or group who might
pose a threat to his power. The purges encompassed all sections of soci-
ety from religious elites to the families of the former Uzbek amirs, the
officer corps and rival Muhammadzais. Thousands were condemned to
death in ‘the most inhuman and fiendish’ ways, many more were mutilated,
blinded or crippled for life as result of being tortured. 28 Women too were
tortured, others were forcibly married to Muhammadzais or condemned
to imprisonment in Kabul, where their jailers and government officials
systematically raped them. Even individuals who had remained loyal to the
Amir were not safe and many were imprisoned or executed for allegedly
supporting Ishaq Khan.
All auqaf in the province were nationalized, including the lands and
holdings of the Shah-i Mardan shrine in Mazar-i Sharif. Hundreds of
mullahs, pirs and other religious leaders were imprisoned or executed and
120 Ansaris, the hereditary guardians of the shrine of Shah-i Mardan,
were taken to Kabul where they were publicly sawn in two. Traders and
local landholders had their assets seized and many were tortured to reveal