AHMAD SHAH DURRANI

FIRST AFGHAN KING

In normal circumstances Pashtoon tribal does not make for national unity.This was as true in the eighteenth century as it is today. Of the twoPashtoon tribes, the Ghilzai and the Abdali, the Ghilzai in particular had scored spectacular military successes against the might of the Mughal Empire, but they could never administer and control the areas that they managed to conquer. In fact, despite the formidable fighting qualities of thePashtoon, it was a chief of the Afshars, a Turkish tribe in Persia, who took advantage of the chaos left when the Mughal empire began to crumble.

adir Khan crowned himself Nadir Shah and began consolidating his insecureposition by expanding from Persia eastwards towards the Pashtoon areas. Oneof his earliest and most serious problems was how to deal with the Pashtoontribes and their antagonism towards any prospective conqueror. However Nadir Shah exploited Pashtoon weaknesses so effectively that, by his death in 1747,Pashtoons were not only his trusted followers but also formed his personalbodyguard. His own kinsfolk and other Persian tribes he regarded as a threat. Heplayed on the rivalries between the Ghilzais and Abdalis, using the latter to fightagainst the former. He exiled whole sections of them and other tribes and thenincorporated many of the chiefs from both tribes into his Persian army.

In 1747 Nadir Shah was assassinated, leaving the Pashtoons in his army heavilyoutnumbered and under great threat from the Persians. The Pashtoon chiefs metand held a

jirga

to try to find some form of leadership and a common policy toregain their lands in Afghanistan and keep the Persians out. The

jirga

chose 23-year-old Ahmad Khan. He was young, a good warrior, and came from one of thesmaller clans of the Abdali, and was thus regarded as less likely to be a threat tothe powerful chiefs of the larger clans.Ahmad Shah became King of a people whose lives were governed by thisestablished tribal system, which is still very persistent up to this day. He waselected by representatives of the western tribes, whom Ghubar lists as follows:'Nur Mohammad Khan Mir Afghan, leader of the Ghilzais; Mohabat Khan, leader of the Popolzais; Musa Khan, leader of the Ishakzais; Nasrullah Khan, leader of the Nurzais; Jamal Khan, leader of Barakzais; and others'. Although the majorityof the chief who elected him was from the Abdali and Ghilzai subtribes, non-theless other [non-Pashtoon] minorities were also represented, such as theQazilbash and the Turkomans. The new King was well aware of the jealousy andantagonism existing between tribes, and he never tried to interfere in their localmatters. He brought representatives of the khans and maliks [chief, usually land-owning] to his council of nine elders. This council, which was one of the mostdemocratic features of his governmental system, was infect representing thewhole tribal network. Its members could be elected or re-elected as seen fit bothby the King himself and by the people they represented. Ahmad Shah consultedthis council on many important matters, such as the raising of taxes, the army, or declarations of war. Having had the consent of this body, his action was thus verymuch in line with public opinion. As an Afghan himself, he knew exactly how far he could go, and never attempted to violate any tradition, even though it might behindering the fulfilment of his ambition for a strong [Pashtoon] nation.Finally, but of a vital importance, Ahmad Shah exemplified to his fellowPashtoons all that an ideal Pashtoon should be. A good warrior, religious,generous, strong, he was described by a contemporary as: 'Tall and robust, andinclined to being fat. His face is remarkably broad, his beard very black and hiscomplexion moderately fair. His appearance upon the whole is majestic andexpressive of an uncommon dignity and strength of mind.' He was a man towhom being a Pashtoon was more important than the trapping of decadentkingship--trapping which to his fellow tribesmen were more associated with thePersians or Mughals. His well-known statement, 'Nowhere in the world canreplace the ground on which one crawled in childhood' ,stamped him as being aPashtoon first and an empire-builder second. He was a man of charisma, who,like the famous Khattak chief Khushal before him, was able to express some of his Pashtoon qualities in poetry:

By blood, we are immersed in love of youThe youth lose their heads for your sake.I come to you and my heart finds rest

Away from you, grief clings to my heart like a snake.I forgot the throne of DelhiWhen I remember the mountain tops of my Pashtoon landIf I must choose between the World and you,I shall not hesitate to claim your barren deserts as my own.

A part of his strength was his modesty. He did not surround himself with thetrapping of pomp like so many other Asian monarchs of his time; indeed he didnot even have a crown. He claimed to be working as the servant of God andcould rely on his devotion to Islam as a further strengthening of his politicalportion:

I capture every province with the aid of God:It is with his help that I go everywhere without failure. Yet I, Ahmad, consider the world worthless and unimportant.I shall leave the world behind and go to the next, armed only with my faith.

When Ahmad Shah moved eastwards through the Khyber Pass, he waswelcomed by the eastern Pashtoon tribes. Wazirs in the south, Yusufzais in thenorth, and powerful Afridis, Mohmands, Shinwaris, Niazis and Khattaks inbetween all offered allegiance. It was a unique alliance that was regarded as themost remarkable achievement of his age. Indeed, on Ahmad Shah's gravestonewere carved the words:

Ahmad Shah Durrani was a great king!Such was the fear of his justice, the lion andThe hind lived peacefully together.The ears of his enemies were incessantly deafenedBy the noise of his conquests.

Under no other leader have such disparate tribes united before or since.From the auspicious beginning of his reign until his death twenty-five years later,Ahmad Shah moulded a major Pashtoon empire, which stretched from Sabsavar in Persia in the west to Srinigar in the east, from Balkh in the north to Karachi inthe south. He showed the Persians, Indians and the empire building British thatthe Pashtoons were a nation and a political threat to be feared and opposed.Ahmad Shah died at the age of 51. After his death, the resurgence of traditionaltribal rivalries, no longer kept in check by a leader's charisma, enabled the old