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SUMMARY
The first indigenous Afghan Kingdom was established under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 in Afghanistan. The Vilayat (province) of Peshawar was among the initial conquests of the Durrani ruler. It enjoyed a highly strategic and economic significance for the kingdom which later on became an empire till its end in 1818. The Durrani kings from the founder, Ahmad Shah down to Shah Zaman, used Peshawar as a stepping stone for their invasions against India. Even Shah Shuja added to the political importance by occupying Peshawar as a capital and hardly would stay at Kabul during his rule. Peshawar had also been a major economic center of activity as a gate way to traders from India and Central Asia which added to the strength of the Durrani Empire. In military terms the Pashtun tribes of Peshawar and its surroundings joined the rank and file of Durrani military force during its repeated invasions of India. The Peshawar based Pashtun tribes also had hardly been a hurdle and rather facilitated Durranis. Peshawar rose to political and strategic prominence with the rise of Durrani rule and gone out of favour as the Empire declined in 1818.
RISE OF THE DURRANIS
Sometimes tragic incidents lead the course of events to a positive note. The same happened in Nadir Shah Afshar's murder, a Persian king who rose to power in 1732 after deposing Shah Tehmaspthe, the last Saffavid ruler of Persia (Ferner 1858:65).
A man of great talent, although in the later period of his rule too much suspicion made Nadir Shah paranoiac, which became the cause of his death. However, another main cause of his assassination was his enmity with his Qazalbash bodyguards who were annoyed so much that he was more inclined towards their Afghan counterparts. Nadir Shah, in fact, fell victim of the swords of his Persian bodyguards who entered into his tent and murdered him in October, 1947 (Husaini n.d: 7-8, Bukhari n.d: 8)
Nadir Shah so much excelled in the art of warfare that his rule stretched from Persia up to the heart of India. However, his death nailed the coffin of Persian glory.
Though for a while the Abdali body-guards of Nadir Shah, became furious at the murder of...