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.

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.

Appointing his nephew Luqman Khan as 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.

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.

Moin-ul-Mulk, wishing to not fight the Afghans on open plains, remained on the defensive at Sodhra, as an on-going power struggle with the Mughal ex-governor of Kabul, Nasir Khan, threatened his position.

His nephew, Abbas Quli, took command of the garrison and repulsed the Afghan forces, inflicting horrific casualties unto them, including some 12,000 dead, and thousands more wounded.

The harsh winter weather killed thousands while the Afghans retreated,[77] and Ahmad Shah was forced to leave behind much of his baggage, including his artillery and food supplies.

Following this, Ahmad Shah drafted a peace treaty with Moin-ul-Mulk, officiating the annexation of the Punjab including Multan and Lahore, and as far as Sirhind to the Durrani Empire.

Supporting the deposed governor, Mir Muqim, Afghan forces quickly occupied Srinagar and established complete control in the province.

[74][92] At the start of Ahmad Shah's reign, he had held friendly relations with the ruler of the Maimana Khanate, Hajji Bi, who had assumed control over the Chahar Wilayat.

Ahmad Shah accepted the call to arms, forging an alliance with Hajji Bi, and sent thousands of Afghan and Qizilbash men under Allah Khan Turkman.

This quickly brought Shah Murad to negotiation, who recognized Afghan control over Balkh, with the amirs of the Chahar Wilayat also submitting tribute to the Durranis.

[113][114] Due to the tyrannies of Imad ul-Mulk, several nobles such as Najib ud-Daula, a chief of Rohilkand, and the new Mughal emperor Alamgir II, pleaded for Ahmad Shah to invade.

[118] Ahmad Shah garnered tribute from the city before continuing his march, crossing the Sutlej river on 10 January at Ludhiana, while the advance guard under his general, Jahan Khan, seized Sirhind, Karnal, and Panipat.

[119][120] The Marathas, who had signed a treaty to protect the Mughals from foreign invasions in 1752,[121] assembled a contingent of 3,400 men under Antaji Mankeshwar, battling the Afghans at Narela.

Jahan Khan continued his advance to Luni and besieged Shahdara on 17 January, with the Jama Masjid in Delhi reading Ahmad Shah's name in the Khutbah as a sign of sovereignty.

Suraj Mal, the ruler of the Jats, initially submitted to Ahmad Shah, but refused to send asylum seekers from the sacking of Delhi, resulting in conflict.

Ahmad Shah, in response, laid siege to Ballabhgarh, while Jahan Khan and Najib ud-Daula were dispatched to loot the surrounding regions.

Jahan Khan furthered the massacre by rewarding a bounty of five rupees for every Hindu head, resulting in the death of thousands of men, women, and children.

[144][135] Cholera had broken out in the Afghan camp, killing around 150 men per day, beginning mainly from the polluted Yamuna River which was overwhelmed with bodies.

Mere months later, the army of the Bengal Subah, weakened due to the Afghan invasion, were utterly defeated at the Battle of Plassey, beginning the rise of British power in India.

It has been described in the following way: Under the shimmering turquoise dome that dominates the sand-blown city of Kandahar lies the body of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the young Kandahari warrior who in 1747 became the region's first Durrani king.

In front of it is a small mosque with a marble vault containing one of the holiest relics in the Islamic World, a kherqa, the Sacred Cloak of Mohammed that was given to Ahmad Shah by Mured Beg, the Emir of Bokhara.

The Sacred Cloak is kept locked away, taken out only at times of great crisis but the mausoleum is open and there is a constant line of men leaving their sandals at the door and shuffling through to marvel at the surprisingly long marble tomb and touch the glass case containing Ahmad Shah's brass helmet.

[162]In his tomb his epitaph is written: The King of high rank, Ahmad Shah Durrani, Was equal to Kisra in managing the affairs of his government.

The date of his departure for the house of mortality Was the year of the Hijra 1186 (1772 A.D.)[163] Durrani's victory over the Marathas influenced the history of the subcontinent and, in particular, the policies of the East India Company in the region.

[citation needed] The acknowledgment of Durrani's military accomplishments is reflected in an intelligence report made by Company officials on the Battle of Panipat, which referred to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'.

[164] Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote of Ahmad Shah: His military courage and activity are spoken of with admiration, both by his own subjects and the nations with whom he was engaged, either in wars or alliances.

He seems to have been naturally disposed to mildness and clemency and though it is impossible to acquire sovereign power and perhaps, in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; yet the memory of no eastern prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice.His successors, beginning with his son Timur Shah and ending with Shuja Shah Durrani, proved largely incapable of governing the last Afghan empire and faced with advancing enemies on all sides.

Timur Shah consolidated the holdings of the Durrani Empire, quashed civil war and rebellion throughout his reign and led multiple campaigns into Punjab to try and repeat his fathers success.