# Abdullah Khan Ahmadzai

Mir Muhammad Abdullah Khan Ahmadzai (Balochi: میر محمد عبداللہ خان احمدزئی) was the Khan of Kalat from 1716 until his death in 1731. He succeeded his brother, Mir Ahmad Khan II, after he was deemed unworthy to lead the Khanate by a Jirga of elders and nobles.
Under Mir Abdullah Khan, the state expanded from Upper Sindh and Kandahar to Persia until the port of Bandar Abbas.

## Early life

Mir Abdullah Khan was born in c. 1690 to Mir Mehrab Khan, the son of the second Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Khan I. In 1695, Mir Ahmad Khan I died after ruling for nearly thirty years and was succeeded by Mir Mehrab Khan. Mir Mehrab was notable for waging war against the Kalhora leader, Yar Muhammad Kalhoro. Mir Mehrab, in an ensuing battle, was mortally wounded in a friendly fire. He nominated his nephew, Mir Samandar Khan, the son of Mir Qambar, before dying in 1697. Mir Samandar continued to oppose Yar Muhammad and his sons Noor Mohammad Kalhoro and Dawood Khan Kalhoro.
Mir Samandar died in 1714, and Mir Ahmad Khan II, the eldest son of Mir Mehrab, was picked as the next Khan of Kalat, but in just two years he proved to be a highly incompetent and a meritless ruler and was replaced by his younger brother Mir Abdullah Khan in 1716.

## Reign

Mir Abdullah, just after ascending the throne, blamed his counterpart in Sindh, Noor Mohammad Kalhoro and his father, Yar Muhammad Kalhoro, for the death of his father Mir Mehrab Khan and also for plundering vast lands of the Brahui people especially Kachhi. Instead of normalizing relations between the two states, Mir Abdullah egoistically saw this as a family feud and vowed to punish the Kalhoras.
Mir Abdullah first campaigned against the Makranis in Makran. He then plundered the city of Dera Ghazi Khan on the invitation of a kinsman of its ruler. Mir Feroz Raisani and Mir Sultan Shahwani, two prominent generals of the Khanate were sent to Pishin and Shorabak respectively, which were under the suzerainty of the Hotak dynasty. Both the generals were successful in subduing the city and were given its governance. Emboldened by these victories, Mir Abdullah assembled a new force, led by Mullah Issa Raisani, to expand the Khanate's territory north of Pishin. This move was strategically instigated by Nader Shah Afshar, who aimed to distract the Hotaks in Kandahar and prevent them from forming an alliance with the Abdalis of Herat.
Shah Hussain Hotak defeated Mir Abdullah in the Battle of Chaman but suffered a defeat himself in a counterattack in Spin Boldak. Shah Hussain, to weaken the Kalat forces, forged an alliance with the Kalhoras of Sindh. Noor Mohammad launched an attack into the Khanate from Kachhi in 1725, which compelled the Khanate to open a front on both sides. The allied army launched a joint attack on Kotra and Pishin and were successful in capturing them both. The forces then moved towards Quetta, but after a long siege of several months, they were forced to retreat. The Kalhora army withdrew first in December 1725, followed by the Hotak army in January 1726.
Mir Abdullah had a strong desire to add the area of Kachhi to his dominion, which was traditionally a part of the Khanate. Thus, in 1731, he assembled his troops, which mainly consisted of the Iltazais of Jhalawan, and marched towards Kachhi. Noor Mohammad first despatched two of his generals: Shah Bohara and Murad Ganjah, but after their failures, set out with his commander-in-chief Shah Baharo to face Mir Abdullah.

## Death

In the Battle of Kachhi, Mir Abdullah was killed by his archnemesis Noor Mohammad in a place known as Sanni near Jandrihar. Before dying, Mir Abdullah nominated his elder son, Mir Mehrab Khan Ahmadzai, as his successor and sent him back to Kalat while his younger sons Nasir Khan and Iltaz Khan stayed back in his father's camp as they were still minors.