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83-608: Ahmad Shah Durrani , who is considered the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan, belonged to the Abdali tribe. In 1747 after establishing the Durrani Empire based in Kandahar , he adopted the epithet Shāh Durr-i-Durrān , "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of his Tareen Abdali tribe to "Durrani" after himself. According to linguist Georg Morgenstierne , the tribal name Abdālī may have "something to do with"

166-410: A Jirga , summoning all tribal leaders who unanimously selected Ahmad Shah as king. A piece of wheat or barley was then placed on Ahmad Shah's turban. Singh cites this account, despite there being no contemporary evidence to suggest this occurred. In reality, Ahmad Shah was brought to power through a nine man military council. Ahmad Shah's accession was further disputed by Jamal Khan, the leader of

249-592: A Soviet historian on Afghanistan, also asserted that the Hephthalite contributed to the ethnogenesis of Durrani Pashtuns: "The Pashtuns began as a union of largely East Iranian tribes ... dating from the middle of the first millennium CE, and ... connected ... [to] dissolution of the Hephthalite confederacy... Of the contribution of the Hephthalites to the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns, we find evidence in

332-576: A Syriac chronicle from c. 555 CE, which mentions Khulas , Abdel , and Ephthalite as three of the nomadic tribes from the "lands of the Huns ." Arlinghaus linked the "Khulas" and the "Abdel" to the Khalaj (modern Ghilji ) and the Abdali (modern Durrani), respectively, arguing that the relationship between the Hephthalite, the Khalaj, and the Abdali may date back as far as the sixth century. Yu. V. Gankovsky,

415-491: A regiment of Durrani tribesmen. Ahmad Shah's forces committed massacres and sacked Delhi alongside Nader Shah's forces in 1739. According to legend, Nizam ul-Mulk , the Mughal governor of Hyderabad , who was an expert in physiognomy , predicted that Ahmad Shah would become king. Nader Shah took notice of this and also believed in the prophecy, supposedly clipping a piece of Ahmad Shah's ears, and remarking "When you become

498-643: A $ 720 million four-year investment deal with the Taliban government of Afghanistan for extraction on its side of the Amu Darya basin. The deal will see a 15% royalty given to the Afghan government over the course of its 25-year term. The Chinese see this basin as the third-largest potential gas field in the world. The clashing noise of battle reached the sky The blood of the Bengalees flowed like

581-516: A force to halt the Afghans. As a result, Ahmad Shah led his forces to Tun and then Farah , where they defeated an army sent by Adel Shah. With Farah under his control, the Afghans proceeded to Grishk , and then Kandahar. While on-route to Kandahar, Ahmad Shah recovered a military convoy that contained the annual tribute from Sindh . The value of the treasure is disputed, but it's given within an estimate of 3,000,000–260,000,000 rupees. The convoy

664-522: A king, this will remind you of me". Nader Shah also requested that Ahmad Shah be generous with his descendants. Nejatie is skeptical of the account. In 1744, Ahmad Shah was promoted to a personal staff of Nader Shah. In a campaign against the Ottomans , Ahmad Shah distinguished himself and was allowed to raise a contingent of 3–4,000 Durrani tribesmen by Nader Shah. Ahmad Shah's contingent became one of Nader Shah's most trusted, utilizing them to shatter

747-468: A league The shorn and parcelled Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles — Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere , A foiled circuitous wanderer: — till at last The longed-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon

830-480: A mean discharge of around 97.4 cubic kilometres (23.4 cu mi) of water per year. The river is navigable for over 1,450 kilometres (900 mi). All of the water comes from the high mountains in the south where annual precipitation can be over 1,000 mm (39 in). Even before large-scale irrigation began, high summer evaporation meant that not all of this discharge reached the Aral Sea – though there

913-560: A result, he chose to adopt a government style similar to the Mughals and Safavids , with his main idea of a government based off an absolute monarchy . A tribal council ruled in hand with Ahmad Shah as well, serving as a form of cabinet . However, Ahmad Shah had made the positions of his cabinet hereditary , thus making it difficult to dismiss advisors without causing conflict. Their roles, however, were mostly purely de-jure , and tasks were delegated to subordinates. The civil service of

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996-538: A result, the Afghans promised Shah Nawaz the position of governor of the Punjab if he accepted Durrani suzerainty. Shah Nawaz accepted this before the Mughal vizier promised to confirm him as governor if he opposed the Afghan invasion instead, which Shah Nawaz accepted. The betrayal saw Ahmad Shah dispatch Sabir Shah to try and convince Shah Nawaz once again. However, after diplomatically insulting Shah Nawaz, Sabir Shah

1079-473: A small section of the Spin clan of Tareens living east of Quetta speaks the unique Wanetsi (Tareeno) dialect of Pashto, which is considered by some linguists to be distinctive enough to be classified as its own language. According to linguist Prods Oktor Skjaervo : "The Pashto area split into two dialect groups at a pre-literary period, represented today on the one hand by all the dialects of modern Pashto and on

1162-430: Is considered one of the most prestigious varieties of Pashto. This dialect retains archaic retroflex sibilants [ʂ] and [ʐ] , which have merged into other phonemes in other dialects. Southern Pashto also preserves the affricates [t͡s] and [d͡z] , which have merged into [s] and [z] in some dialects. The Tareen (Tarin) tribe is historically closely related to Durranis. Although most Tareens speak Southern Pashto,

1245-659: Is disputed by Nejatie, who states that the majority of sources from Ahmad Shah's time state that he was born in Herat, rather than Multan, including the Tarikh-i Ahmad Shahi . His father, Zaman Khan, was the ruler of the Sadozai Sultanate of Herat . Zaman Khan had died in 1721, leading to Ahmad Shah being raised alongside his brother Zulfiqar Khan in Shindand and Farah . In the mid 1720s, Zulfiqar Khan

1328-731: Is now regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. Within a few years, he extended his control from Khorasan in the west to Kashmir and North India in the east, and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. In 1823, Emir Dost Mohammad Khan , who belonged to the Barakzai tribe of Durranis, founded the Barakzai dynasty centered at Kabul . Thereafter, his descendants ruled in direct succession until 1929 when King Amanullah Khan , under whom Afghanistan gained independence over its foreign policy from

1411-463: Is said to have come from the medieval city of Āmul (later Chahar Joy/Charjunow, and now known as Türkmenabat ) in modern Turkmenistan , with Daryā being the Persian word for 'lake' or 'sea'. Medieval Arabic and Islamic sources call the river Jeyhoun ( Arabic : جَـيْـحُـوْن , romanized :  Jayḥūn ), which is derived from Gihon , the biblical name for one of the four rivers of

1494-662: Is some evidence the large Pamir glaciers provided enough meltwater for the Aral to overflow during the 13th and 14th centuries. Since the end of the 19th century, there have been four different claimants as the true source of the Oxus: A glacier turns into the Wakhan River and joins the Pamir River about 50 kilometres (31 mi) downstream. Bill Colegrave's expedition to Wakhan in 2007 found that both claimants 2 and 3 had

1577-556: Is typically compared to rulers such as Mahmud of Ghazni , Babur , and as well as Nader Shah . He has also been referred to as the "greatest general of Asia of his time". His birth name was Ahmad Khan, born into the Abdali tribe. After his accession to power in 1747, he became known as Ahmad Shah . His tribe also changed the name from Abdali, instead becoming the Durrani. Afghans often call him Ahmad Shāh Bābā , meaning "Ahmad Shah

1660-574: The Barakzai tribe. The Barakzai were the most powerful clan of the Durranis centered in the Kandahar and Helmand regions. The dispute over accession continued until an agreement was made where Jamal Khan would submit to Ahmad Shah as king, while Ahmad Shah would make Jamal Khan and his descendants Wazir . With an agreement reached, Sabir Shah, Ahmad Shah's advisor, took a piece of greenery or stalk and attached it to Ahmad Shah's cap, officially crowning him. Scholars state that Ahmad Shah's rise to power

1743-717: The Basmachi movement and killed Ibrahim Bek . A large refugee population of Central Asians, including Turkmen, Tajiks, and Uzbeks, fled to northern Afghanistan. In the 1960s and 1970s the Soviets started using the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya to irrigate extensive cotton fields in the Central Asian plain. Before this time, water from the rivers was already being used for agriculture, but not on this massive scale. The Qaraqum Canal , Karshi Canal, and Bukhara Canal were among

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1826-657: The British Raj , was forced to abdicate and his cousin Mohammed Nadir Shah was later elected king. The Barakzai dynasty ruled present-day Afghanistan until 1973 when Mohammed Zahir Shah , the last Barakzai king, was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan . The coup ended the Barakzai kingdom and established the Republic of Afghanistan (1973—1978) . Contemporarily,

1909-507: The Father ". In historical sources, his tribe name is interchangeably used between Abdali and Durrani, with other common names for him being Ahmad Shah Abdali. Ahmad Shah was born between 1720–1722 in either Herat , Afghanistan , or Multan , Pakistan . Sources are disputed on where he was born. Contemporary scholarship came to the consensus that Ahmad Shah was born in Multan, but this

1992-633: The Garden of Eden . The Amu Darya passes through one of the world's highest deserts. Western travelers in the 19th century mentioned that one of the names by which the river was known in Afghanistan was Gozan , and that this name was used by Greek, Mongol, Chinese, Persian, Jewish, and Afghan historians. However, this name is no longer used. The river's total length is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) and its drainage basin totals 534,739 square kilometres (206,464 sq mi) in area, providing

2075-675: The Levant through Persia to Afghanistan , with the Oxus as his stated goal, "to see certain famous monuments, chiefly the Gonbad-e Qabus , a tower built as a mausoleum for an ancient king." George MacDonald Fraser 's Flashman at the Charge (1973), places Flashman on the Amu Darya and the Aral Sea during the (fictitious) Russian advance on India during The Great Game period. But

2158-709: The Pamir Mountains , north of the Hindu Kush , the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan , and flows from there north-westwards into the southern remnants of the Aral Sea . In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan , and Turkmenistan . In ancient history ,

2241-680: The Pamirs passing the Tajikistan–Afghanistan Friendship Bridge . It subsequently forms the border of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan for about 200 kilometres (120 mi), passing Termez and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge . It delineates the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan for another 100 kilometres (62 mi) before it flows into Turkmenistan at Atamurat . It flows across Turkmenistan south to north, passing Türkmenabat , and forms

2324-547: The Transcaspian Canal . The 534,769 square kilometres (206,475 sq mi) of the Amu Darya drainage basin include most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of Kyrgyzstan , the northeast corner of Afghanistan, a narrow portion of eastern Turkmenistan and the western half of Uzbekistan. Part of the Amu Darya basin divide in Tajikistan forms that country's border with China (in the east) and Pakistan (to

2407-556: The Yusufzai , Afridi , and Khattak . With Nasir Khan overwhelmed, he completely withdrew from Peshawar and fled to Delhi. Shah Nawaz Khan, the Mughal governor of the Punjab , opened correspondence with the Afghans after they had seized Peshawar. Shah Nawaz, having toppled his brother from power to assume control over the Punjab itself, was opposed by the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah , who refused to recognize him as governor. As

2490-771: The ethnonym of the largest of the Pashtun tribe unions, the Abdali ... associated with the ethnic name of the Hephthalites... The Siah-posh , the Kafirs ... of the Hindu Kush , [still] called all Pashtuns ... Abdal ... at the beginning of the 19th century." Abdur Rashīd (meaning "Servant of the Guide to the Right Path" or "Servant of God" in Arabic ). Abdur Rashid returned to Ghor and introduced Islam there. The book stated that Abdur Rashid's great-grandson, Tareen, had three sons: "One

2573-588: The regent in Kandahar while he left on campaign, Ahmad Shah marched his army toward Ghazni only to be halted at Qalati Ghilji by his former allies, the Tokhi Ghilzai . Ahmad Shah stormed the fortress of Qalat, bringing the Tokhis to submission and annexing their lands over the following decades. Ahmad Shah continued to Ghazni, defeating the governor established there and conquering it with little opposition. Before advancing on Kabul, Ahmad Shah garnered

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2656-480: The tradition of Israelite descent among Pashtuns, which shows that the tradition was already popular among 16th-century Pashtuns. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Abdali were primarily pastoralists , not known for agricultural activities, but some of them were engaged in overland trade. Abdali and Tareen (a Pashtun tribe related to Abdalis) chieftains were patronized by both Safavid and Mughal appointed governors, and asked to patrol travel routes to ensure

2739-470: The Afghans, the Mughals were utterly defeated, and Shah Nawaz fled to Delhi . With the defeat of the Mughals, the Afghans entered Lahore , plundering and massacring the city. Thousands were also conscripted into the Afghan army, while the Mughals began mobilizing a larger army. Ahmad Shah left Lahore on 19 February with his army, beginning to advance on Delhi . The Afghans captured Sirhind and pressed

2822-585: The Amu Darya basin. During the Soviet era, a resource-sharing system was instated in which Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan shared water originating from the Amu and Syr Daryas with Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan in summer. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, and electricity in winter. After the fall of the Soviet Union this system disintegrated and

2905-473: The Amu Darya would not exist—because it rarely rains in the lowlands through which most of the river flows. Of the total drainage area, only about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi) actively contribute water to the river. This is because many of the river's major tributaries (especially the Zeravshan River ) have been diverted, and much of the river's drainage is arid. Throughout most of

2988-537: The Central Asian nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor water management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue. The Caspian tiger used to occur along the river's banks. After its extirpation, the Darya's delta was suggested as a potential site for the introduction of its closest surviving relative, the Siberian tiger . A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if

3071-514: The Empire of Russia, which at the time wielded great influence over the Oxus area, would overcome these obstacles and find a suitable route through which to invade British India – but this never came to pass. The area was taken over by Russia during the Russian conquest of Turkestan . The Soviet Union became the ruling power in the early 1920s and expelled Mohammed Alim Khan . It later put down

3154-471: The Hephthalite. This hypothesis was endorsed by historian Aydogdy Kurbanov , who indicated that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, they likely assimilated into different local populations and that the Abdali may be one of the tribes of Hephthalite origin. 19th-century British Indian explorers, Charles Masson and Henry W. Bellew , also suggested that there was a direct relationship between Abdalis and Hephthalites. Joseph T. Arlinghaus referred to

3237-741: The Mongols came to the area, they used the water of the Amu Darya to flood Konye-Urgench . One southern route of the Silk Road ran along part of the Amu Darya northwestward from Termez before going westwards to the Caspian Sea . According to the Quaternary International, it is possible that the Amu Darya's course across the Karakum Desert has gone through several major shifts in the past few thousand years. Much of

3320-648: The Qizilbash by giving them districts in Chindawol and Murad Khani . With Kabul under his control, Ahmad Shah dispatched his Commander-in-chief , Jahan Khan, toward Peshawar with the intention of advancing as far as Attock . Jahan Khan quickly overran Jalalabad , and Nasir Khan was unable to create a significant defense at the Khyber Pass , forcing him to flee. The Afghan armies approached Peshawar, prompting many Pashtun tribes to declare for them, such as

3403-423: The administration of the empire. This was further exasperated by Ahmad Shah when he gave the right of revenue collection to the highest bidder. The victors of these auctions, typically members of Ahmad Shah's own tribe, were completely free in taxing as much as they wished. While members of the Durrani tribe rapidly became rich, some landholders were forced into complete debt, forcing many to sell their lands or flee

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3486-439: The advance, outmaneuvering Mughal forces until they were caught at Manupur , where they battled. The Afghan army pressed the attack until a catastrophe occurred in the form that the ammunition stores of the Afghan army caught fire and exploded, incinerating 1,000 men, and forcing a complete withdrawal from the battlefield. The Mughals did not pursue the Afghan army due to the death of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah , and turmoil in

3569-408: The area is suitable and if such an initiative would receive support from relevant decision makers. A viable tiger population of about 100 animals would require at least 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi) of large tracts of contiguous habitat with rich prey populations. Such habitat is not available at this stage and cannot be provided in the short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for

3652-478: The border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from Halkabat. It is then split by the Tuyamuyun Hydro Complex into many waterways that used to form the river delta joining the Aral Sea, passing Urgench , Daşoguz , and other cities, but it does not reach what is left of the sea any more and is lost in the desert. Use of water from the Amu Darya for irrigation has been a major contributing factor to

3735-403: The camp. Withdrawing to Lahore, Ahmad Shah became aware that his nephew, Luqman Khan, who had been left as regent in Kandahar while he embarked on campaign, had revolted. Ahmad Shah immediately returned to Afghanistan , and marched on Kandahar. Durrani wrote a collection of odes in his native Pashto. He was also the author of several poems in Persian. One of his most famous Pashto poems

3818-548: The canal with the Taliban. The Taliban has made the canal a priority, with images supplied by Planet Labs demonstrate that from April 2022 to February 2023, more than 100 km of canal was excavated. According to the Taliban, the initiative is expected to convert 550,000 hectares of desert into farmland. In January 2023, the Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company (aka CAPEIC) signed

3901-714: The capital of his empire, and instead pursued military campaigns, returning only to restore stability after conflict. By the end of his reign, Ahmad Shah committed to over fifteen military campaigns, Nine of them being centered in India, three in Khorasan , and three in Afghan Turkestan . Weeks after Ahmad Shah's accession, Nasir Khan, the governor of Kabul , Ghazni , and Peshawar revolted against him. Ahmad Shah previously imprisoned Nasir Khan and ransomed him for an annual tribute of 500,000 rupees, and while Nasir Khan

3984-526: The communities of "the vassal Khanates of Maimene, Khulm, Kunduz, and even the Badakshan and Wahkran." An Englishman, William Moorcroft , visited the Oxus around 1824 during the Great Game period. Another Englishman, a naval officer called John Wood , came with an expedition to find the source of the river in 1839. He found modern-day Lake Zorkul , called it Lake Victoria, and proclaimed he had found

4067-750: The empire was dominated by the Qizilbash , as most of the Durrani elite were illiterate . The Qizilbash also significantly formed the major port of Ahmad Shah's bodyguard , counterbalancing other Durrani leaders and tribes. The complications and effectively divided government made the administration difficult to function, and caused ethnic tension between the Qizilbash and tribal council of Ahmad Shah. Further complications erupted in Ahmad Shah's administration over exempting his own tribe from taxation. Other Afghan tribes and ethnicities were discontent from such, as they were also devoid of being allowed to serve in

4150-522: The former Afghan president Hamid Karzai (2001–2014), like Ahmad Shah Durrani, also belongs to the Popalzai clan of Durranis. The current leader of the Taliban - Hibatullah Akhundzada is a member of Nurzai Panjpai . Although many are bilingual in Dari Persian , the Durrani of southern Afghanistan speak Southern Pashto , also known as "Kandahari Pashto", the "soft" dialect of Pashto . It

4233-434: The governor of Kandahar and Ahmad Shah's uncle to secure complete power over the Durrani regiments. With the dispute over leadership concluded, Ahmad Shah commanded a force of over 6,000 Afghans. Following this, Ahmad Shah moved through Khabushan , advancing to Kashmar . While on-route, Ahmad Shah accumulated supplies for his army and proceeded toward Torbat-e Heydarieh , where they received news that Adel Shah had sent

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4316-422: The kingdom, likely being bought up by the Durranis who had driven them to bankruptcy . Ahmad Shah instead focused on seeing himself as the successor of Nader Shah . Instead of establishing a capable administration, Ahmad Shah focused on wars and military campaigns to supply his treasury, with any downturns easily being covered by the treasures of war. Throughout his reign, he rarely spent his time in Kandahar ,

4399-443: The largest of the irrigation diversions built. However, the Main Turkmen Canal , which would have diverted water along the dry Uzboy River bed into central Turkmenistan, was never built. In the course of the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1970s, Soviet forces used the valley to invade Afghanistan through Termez . The Soviet Union fell in the 1990s and Central Asia split up into the many smaller countries that lie within or partially within

4482-402: The main stem and the Uzboy. But in the 18th century, the river again turned north, flowing into the Aral Sea, a path it has taken since. Less and less water flowed down the Uzboy. When Russian explorer Bekovich-Cherkasski surveyed the region in 1720, the Amu Darya did not flow into the Caspian Sea anymore. By the 1800s, the ethnographic makeup of the region was described by Peter Kropotkin as

4565-400: The majestic River floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, Rejoicing, through the hushed Chorasmian waste, Under the solitary moon: — he flowed Right for the polar star, past Orgunjè, Brimming, and bright, and large: then sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many

4648-583: The other by Wanetsi and by archaic remains in other southeast dialects." Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( Pashto : احمد شاه دراني ; Persian : احمد شاه درانی ), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī ( Pashto : احمد شاه ابدالي ), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan . Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah fought over fifteen major military campaigns. Nine of them being centered in India, three in Khorasan , and three in Afghan Turkestan . A brilliant military leader and tactician, Ahmad Shah

4731-409: The power of his other commanders due to his perception that they were planning to rebel or kill him. In June 1747, Nader Shah was convinced that his personal guard intended to assassinate him. As a result, he summoned Ahmad Shah and other loyal commanders. Nader Shah ordered Ahmad Shah to assemble his Durrani regiments, and to arrest his personal guard. If the personal guard resisted, Ahmad Shah

4814-402: The reintroduction, at least at this stage. Since March 2022, the building of the 285 km Qosh Tepa Canal has been underway in northern Afghanistan to divert water from the Amu Darya. Uzbekistan has expressed concern that the canal will have an adverse effect on its agriculture. The canal is also expected to make the Aral Sea disaster worse, and in 2023 Uzbek officials held talks on

4897-487: The river Jaihun . ~ Mirza Nathan describing a battle between the Mughals and Musa Khan of Bengal (translated by M. I. Borah) The Oxus river, and Arnold's poem, fire the imaginations of the children who adventure with ponies over the moors of the West Country in the 1930s children's book The Far-Distant Oxus . There were two sequels, Escape to Persia and Oxus in Summer . Robert Byron 's 1937 travelogue, The Road to Oxiana , describes its author's journey from

4980-426: The river is also referred to as Vakṣu ( वक्षु ). The Brahmanda Purana refers to the river as Chaksu which means 'an eye'. The Avestan texts too refer to the river as Yakhsha/Vakhsha (and Yakhsha Arta ('Upper Yakhsha'), referring to the Jaxartes / Syr Darya twin river to Amu Darya). In Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian period the river is known as Wehrōd (lit. 'good river'). The name Amu

5063-419: The river was regarded as the boundary of Greater Iran with Turan , which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia. The Amu Darya has a flow of about 70 cubic kilometres per year on average. In classical antiquity , the river was known as the Ōxus in Latin and Ὦξος ( Ôxos ) in Greek — a clear derivative of Vakhsh , the name of the largest tributary of the river. In Sanskrit texts ,

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5146-425: The royal enclosure and entered Nader Shah's tent, assassinating him. Chaos ensued following the assassination, and plans to coverup by the conspirators failed. They resorted to pillaging the royal enclosure while news of Nader Shah's death rapidly spread. The next morning, the royal guard attacked Ahmad Shah's forces, who despite being heavily outnumbered, drove the Persians and Qizilbash off. Ahmad Shah then entered

5229-409: The safety of merchant caravans passing through Kandahar, which was a province located on a strategic trade corridor linking Hindustan , Iran , and Turkestan . In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani established the Durrani Empire with its capital at Kandahar . He adopted the title Shāh Durr-i-Durrān , "King, Pearl of Pearls," and changed the name of his tribe "Abdali" to "Durrani" after himself. Ahmad Shah

5312-437: The same source, the Chelab stream, which bifurcates on the watershed of the Little Pamir, half flowing into Lake Chamaktin and half into the parent stream of the Little Pamir/Sarhad River. Therefore, the Chelab stream may be properly considered the true source or parent stream of the Oxus. The Panj River forms the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan . It flows west to Ishkashim where it turns north and then north-west through

5395-409: The shrinking of the Aral Sea since the late 1950s. Historical records state that in different periods, the river flowed into the Aral Sea (from the south), into the Caspian Sea (from the east), or both, similar to the Syr Darya (Jaxartes, in Ancient Greek ). Partly based on such records, first Tsarist and later Soviet engineers proposed to divert the Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea by constructing

5478-402: The source. Then, the French explorer and geographer Thibaut Viné collected a lot of information about this area during five expeditions between 1856 and 1862. The question of finding a route between the Oxus valley and India has been of concern historically. A direct route crosses extremely high mountain passes in the Hindu Kush and isolated areas like Kafiristan . Some in Britain feared that

5561-411: The south). About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan. The abundant water flowing in the Amu Darya comes almost entirely from glaciers in the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan , which, standing above the surrounding arid plain, collect atmospheric moisture which otherwise would probably escape elsewhere. Without its mountain water sources,

5644-408: The steppe, the annual rainfall is about 300 millimetres (12 in). The ancient Greeks called the Amu Darya the Oxus . In ancient times, the river was regarded as the boundary between Greater Iran and Ṫūrān ( Persian : تُوران ). The river's drainage lies in the area between the former empires of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great , although they occurred at very different times. When

5727-410: The support of the Suleimankhel tribes in the region, while Taqi Khan managed to procure the defection of the Qizilbash garrison in Kabul, so that once the Afghan army would arrive, they'd hand over the city. The acceptance of these terms forced Nasir Khan to flee to Peshawar, and when Ahmad Shah arrived at Kabul in October 1747, the Qizilbash handed over the Bala Hissar fortress. Ahmad Shah awarded

5810-419: The tent of Nader Shah, taking the Koh-i-Noor diamond and a signet ring from his body. Having driven off the Persians and Qizilbash, Ahmad Shah departed for Kandahar with his regiments, and his Uzbek ally , Hajji Bi Ming. Ahmad Shah first settled the dispute of leadership, asserting himself as the leader of Durrani tribesmen by forcing the former leader to step down. Ahmad Shah also killed 'Abd al-Ghani Khan,

5893-401: The time – most recently from the 13th century to the late 16th century – the Amu Darya emptied into both the Aral and the Caspian Seas, reaching the latter via a large distributary called the Uzboy River . The Uzboy splits off from the main channel just south of the river's delta. Sometimes the flow through the two branches was more or less equal, but often most of the Amu Darya's flow split to

5976-544: The west and flowed into the Caspian. People began to settle along the lower Amu Darya and the Uzboy in the 5th century, establishing a thriving chain of agricultural lands, towns, and cities. In about AD 985, the massive Gurganj Dam at the bifurcation of the forks started to divert water to the Aral. Genghis Khan 's troops destroyed the dam in 1221, and the Amu Darya shifted to distributing its flow more or less equally between

6059-593: The world and you, زما خوښ دي ستا خالي تش ډګرونه I shall not hesitate to claim your barren deserts as my own Amu Darya The Amu Darya ( / ˌ ɑː m uː ˈ d ɑːr j ə / AH-moo DAR-yə ), ( Persian : آمو دریا ) also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( / ˈ ɒ k s ə s / OK -səss ), is a major river in Central Asia , which flows through Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan and Afghanistan . Rising in

6142-521: The world, زما به هېر نه سي دا ستا ښکلي باغونه I will never forget your beautiful gardens د ډیلي تخت هېرومه چې را ياد کړم I forget the throne of Delhi when I remember, زما د ښکلي پښتونخوا د غرو سرونه The mountain tops of my beautiful Pashtunkhwa د فريد او د حميد دور به بيا سي The eras of Farid [Sher Shah Suri] and Hamid [Lodi] will return, چې زه وکاندم پر هر لوري تاختونه When I launch attacks on all sides که تمامه دنيا يو خوا ته بل خوا يې If I must choose between

6225-432: Was Love of a Nation : ستا د عشق له وينو ډک سول ځيګرونه By blood, we are immersed in love of you ستا په لاره کښې بايلي زلمي سرونه The youth lose their heads for your sake تا ته راسمه زړګی زما فارغ سي I come to you and my heart finds rest بې له تا مې اندېښنې د زړه مارونه Away from you, grief clings to my heart like a snake که هر څو مې د دنيا ملکونه ډېر سي Whatever countries I conquer in

6308-597: Was attempting to raise this amount, the Ghilzai tribes refused to pay their taxes toward the Durranis , and only wished to do so to their Mughal sovereign, Muhammad Shah . With a growing Ghilzai revolt, Nasir Khan declared his independence from Durrani suzerainty and began raising an army of Uzbeks and Hazaras , while also frantically asking Muhammad Shah for aid. In Autumn of 1747, Ahmad Shah began his campaign against Nasir Khan. Appointing his nephew Luqman Khan as

6391-588: Was black in complexion, and he was named Tōr (meaning "black" in Pashto); the other was white in complexion, and he was named Spīn (meaning "white" in Pashto); his third son was named Abdāl (or Awdāl )." The first two sons were the progenitors of modern Tareens , who are closely related to Durranis and are divided into two clans (Tor Tareen and Spin Tareen), while the third son was the progenitor of modern Durranis. The 1595 Mughal account Ain-i-Akbari also mentioned

6474-586: Was effectively a military coup , rather than an election. Following his accession, Ahmad Shah adopted the epithet "Durr-i Durrān", meaning "Pearl of Pearls", also changing his tribes name from Abdali to Durrani . At the beginning of his rule, Ahmad Shah's empire consisted of Kandahar , Helmand , and Farah . The Hazaras of the Bala Murghab and Nasir Khan I of Kalat also rested under Afghan suzerainty. However, Ahmad Shah had no administrative experience, nor did much of his closest advisors. As

6557-657: Was escorted by Mohammad Taqi Khan Shirazi , a disgruntled former officer of Nader Shah, and Nasir Khan, the governor of Kabul and Peshawar . Taqi Khan joined Ahmad Shah and divided the wealth, while Nasir Khan refused and was imprisoned. Later, he was ransomed on the conditions of an annual tribute of 500,000 rupees, and that he would enter Ahmad Shah's suzerainty. The army of Ahmad Shah grew to over 18,000 men, also including war elephants . Upon reaching Kandahar, Ahmad Shah established camp in Naderabad and prepared to be crowned as King. According to legend, Ahmad Shah declared

6640-427: Was given permission to kill them all. He was ordered to do this at first light. Nader Shah then chose to sleep with his favorite wife, but did so outside the royal tent, where the same guards he accused of treachery presumed night duty , while Ahmad Shah with his regiments were established at the defenses of the camp. News of Nader Shah's plan leaked, with the conspirators being forced to act. Four conspirators entered

6723-523: Was imprisoned and executed, and Shah Nawaz began marching against the Afghan army. Ahmad Shah crossed the Ravi River on 10 January, and established himself at the Shalimar Gardens , outside of Lahore . The armies of Shah Nawaz and Ahmad Shah began battle on 11 January, and as the battle began, the Afghan regiments of Shah Nawaz's army defected. Despite commanding a much larger army then

6806-516: Was invited to rule Herat. Nothing else is heard of Ahmad Shah until 1731–1732, when Zulfiqar Khan was defeated by Nader Shah , forcing both Zulfiqar Khan and Ahmad Shah to flee to Kandahar , where they remained political prisoners of Hussain Hotak . After Nader Shah conquered Kandahar , Ahmad Shah and Zulfiqar Khan were freed. Ahmad Shah spent much of his early life in the service of Nader Shah. Accompanying him on his invasion of India , Ahmad Shah

6889-613: Was later resettled in Mazandaran alongside his brother. Iranica states that Ahmad Shah may have become the governor of Mazandaran. After the death of his brother, Ahmad Shah enlisted in the Afsharid military in 1742. Some sources suggest that it was only Zulfiqar Khan that left for Mazandaran, while Ahmad Shah remained in Nader Shah's service as an officer. During Nader Shah's invasion of India, Ahmad Shah personally commanded

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