The conflict's origins stemmed from the days of the Dal Khalsa, and continued after the Emirate of Kabul succeeded the Durrani Empire.

The Sikh Confederacy had effectively achieved independence from the Mughal Empire in 1716, and expanded at its expense in the following decades, despite the Chhota Ghallughara.

[5] Establishing a governor over Lahore, Ahmad marched his army east taking more territory,[4] but was defeated at the Battle of Manupur by Mughals in alliance with Sikhs[6] and fled back to Kandahar.

[11] In September 1761, near Gujranwala, Ahmad Shah Durrani's governor of the province of Lahore, was defeated by the Sikhs, continued with the defeat and ousting of the remaining commanders of Durrani's, eventually bringing the entire territories from the Satluj to the Indus, under Sikh occupation, along with Bist Jalandhar Doab, Sarhind, Rachna and the Chaj Doabs.

[12] The reports of catastrophe enraged Ahmad Shah and wrote to Nasir Khan, beglar begi of Khalat, to join him in jihad (holy war) against the Sikhs, to destroy them and to enslave their women and children, but Ahmad Shah's march to Punjab in 1764, resulted in failure of Jihad with the defeat, ambush and ousting of advance guards by the Sikhs outside of Lahore.

[21] Due to Sikhs having been in possession of the provinces of Lahore and Multan, these provinces served as a barrier for any attempt by Timur Shah to invade, many chiefs and nobility, dependencies of Durranis, paid no respect to the Durrani sovereignty, such as Sind which reduced the amount of tribute and hardly paid it, mostly due to its concurrent civil war between the Talpurs, and the Kalhoras; Nasir Khan Balouch, the ruler of the Khanate of Kalat under Timur Shah did not acknowledge the authority of Afghan monarch, as a result, inducing other Durrani chiefdoms to do the same, including the chief of Bahawalpur, who treated the authority of Timur Shah with no respect.

[22] Timur Shah thereupon tried to recover Multan by diplomacy and therefore sent Haji Ali Khan, as his agent, along with companions, to the Bhangi Sikh Chiefs to negotiate, with advice to behave and be polite, but instead, Haji Ali Khan threatened the Bhangi Chiefs to retire from Multan or face the royal wrath.

The Bhangis tied Haji to the tree and shot him dead whereas his companions were left unharmed and sent back to report to Timur.

[22] Upon the news of death of his agent, Timur Shah detached a force of 18,000 men that included Yusafzais, Durranis, Mughals and Qizalbashes under general Zangi Khan,[23] with orders to march by less known routes and fall upon the Sikhs unaware and Zangi Khan gave strict orders to his army to keep the movement secret.

[25] Following the victory, Timur Shah Durrani captured Multan after meeting the relieving Sikh force in Shujabad where a severe battle was fought on 8 February 1780.

Timur sent a large army in pursuit of them and managed to overtake them at Hujra Muqim Khan, 64 km south west of Lahore.

After this successful juncture, Timur hurried from Shujabad to Multan and ordered a general massacre in the city and besieged the fort in which the Sikh army was residing.

[28] After retreat, he left his deputy general, Ahmad Khan Shahanchi-bashi in charge, along with Afghan soldiers but he too was defeated and killed by the Sikhs.

[33] Zaman Shah intended to march on Delhi but the Sikhs laid waste around 150 km of his camp to stop supplies and engaged in skirmishes.

Facing determined foe who could cut off his communication with Kabul, Shah Zaman exercised discretion and returned to Afghanistan with his troops on 4 January 1799.

However, having civil strife in Afghanistan, he was forced to cut his campaign short, having to deal with his brother, Mahmud Shah Durrani once again.

[36] Accusing Ranjit Singh of treachery, Fateh Khan set off from Kashmir at the head of 15,000 cavalry[37] in April 1813 and invested Attock Fort.

On 12 July 1813, the Afghans' supplies were exhausted and Dewan Mokham Chand Nayyar marched 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Attock to Haidaru, on the banks of the Indus River, to offer battle.

Fateh Khan opened the battle by sending his Pathans on a cavalry charge which was repulsed by heavy fire from the Sikh artillery.

[39] The Afghans rallied under Dost Mohammad Khan, who led the Ghazis on another cavalry charge which threw one wing of the Sikh army into disarray and captured some artillery.

[45] Faced with a scorched earth from the fleeing populace, food supplies became a major issue for his army, followed by a cholera outbreak.

[45] Meanwhile, Ram Dyal, who was entrenched near Srinagar, received a proposal from Azim Khan for a negotiated peace and was able to extricate himself from a difficult situation.

[47] In early January the Sikh force began their campaign with the capture of Nawab Muzaffar Khan's forts at Muzaffargarh and Khangarh.