Firstly, the Mughal Empire in India was often viewed by them as a painfully small compensation for the loss of their ancient capital – Samarkand – which they had been driven out of by the Uzbeks.

Secondly, Central Asian trade provided the Mughals with warhorses, without which not only the military forces would be incapacitated, but could also potentially spark tribal revolts and foreign invasions.

He expected the Persians to attempt to regain the city soon and so he ordered that the wall be repaired rapidly while a large Mughal army based in Kabul protected the area.

[4] Though victorious in the field, the Mughals were unable to secure the conquered territories and Shah Jahan was forced to recall his armies from Badakhshan.

[citation needed] On 4 April 1648, encouraged by the Mughal reversal in Badakhshan,[5] Shah Abbas II marched from Isfahan with an army of 40,000.

[7] Shah Jahan sent Aurangzeb and the vizier Sa'dullah Khan with 50,000 soldiers, composed of the Barha Sayyids, the feudal Rajput levies and the local Afghans, to recapture it,[8][9] but although he defeated the Safavids outside the city he was unable to take it.

Abdul Aziz, Khan of Bukhara, had entered into an alliance with Shah Abbas and in May 1652, he dispatched 10,000 troops to Kabul in May to harass the Mughal supply lines.

[12] Though not strong enough to lift the siege, the Uzbeks endangered a Mughal convoy of 2,000 who were escorting one and a half million silver coins to the besieger's army at Kandahar.

[citation needed] In 1653 Shah Jahan sent Dara Shikoh, with a large army and two of the heaviest artillery pieces of the empire,[10] but after a five-month siege the Mughals couldn't manage to starve the city, and the attempt to breach their walls by cannon fire also failed.