Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( 1722 – 16 October 1772 ) ( Pashto / ) , also known as Ahmad Khān Abdālī ( Pashto / Persian : احمد خان ابدالي ) , was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan . Ahmad Shah enlisted as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid kingdom and quickly rose to become a commander of four thousand Abdali Pashtun soldiers . After the death of Nader Shah Afshar of Persia in June 1747 , Abdali became the Emir of Khorasan . Rallying his Pashtun tribes and allies , he pushed east towards the Mughal and the Maratha Empire of India , west towards the disintegrating Afsharid Empire of Persia , and north toward the Khanate of Bukhara . Within a few years , he extended Afghan control from Khorasan in the west to Kashmir and North India in the east , and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south . Ahmad Shah ' s mausoleum is located at Kandahar , Afghanistan , adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak of Prophet Muhammad in the center of the city . The Afghans often refer to him as " Ahmad Shāh Bābā " ( " Ahmad Shah the Father " ) . Durrani is infamous for his genocide of the Sikhs , the destruction and desecration of their holy Golden Temple in Amritsar . Durrani massacred thousands of Sikhs in 1746 and 1762 . Early years . Ahmad Shah was born in 1722 to Muhammed Zaman Khan Abdali , a chief of the Abdalis and governor of Herat , and Zarghuna Alakozai . It is believed that Durrani was born in the city of Herat , in present - day Afghanistan . Some claim that he was born in Multan in the Mughal Empire ( present - day Pakistan ) and taken as an infant with his mother Zarghuna Alakozai to Herat city where his father had served as the governor . On the contrary , several historians assert that he was born in Herat . One of the historians relied on primary sources such as Mahmud - ul - Musanna ' s " Tarikh - i - Ahmad Shahi " of 1753 and Imam - uddin al - Hussaini ' s " Tarikh - i - Hussain Shahi " of 1798 . Ahmad Shah ' s father , Zaman Khan Abdali , was killed in a battle with the Hotakis around the time of Ahmad Shah ' s birth . His family were from the Sadozai section of the Popalzai clan of the Abdalis . Ahmad Shah ' s mother was from the Alakozai clan of the Abdalis . In 1729 , after the invasion of Nader Shah , the young Ahmad Shah fled with his family south to Kandahar and took refuge with the Ghilzai s . He and his brother , Zulfikar , were later imprisoned inside a fortress by Hussain Hotaki , the Ghilzai ruler of Kandahar . Shah Hussain commanded a powerful tribe of Pashtun fighters , having conquered the eastern part of Persia in 1722 with his brother Mahmud Hotaki , and trodden the throne of the Persian Safavids . In around 1731 , Nader Shah Afshar , the rising new ruler of Persia , began enlisting the Abdali Pashtuns from Herat in his army . After conquering Kandahar in 1738 , Ahmad Shah and his brother were freed by Nader Shah and provided with leading careers in his administration . The Ghilzais were expelled from Kandahar city and the Abdalis began to settle in the city . Commander in the Afsharid military . Nader Shah favoured Ahmad Shah not only because he came from a well respected noble Afghan family but also due to his handsome features as well as both being Khorasanians . Ahmad Shah proved himself in Nader Shah ' s service and was promoted from a personal attendant ( " yasāwal " ) to command a cavalry of Abdali tribesmen . He quickly rose to command a cavalry contingent estimated at four thousand strong , composed chiefly of Abdalis , in the service of the Shah on his invasion of India . Popular history has it that the brilliant but megalomaniac Nader Shah could see the talent in his young commander . Later on , according to Pashtun legend , it is said that in Delhi Nader Shah summoned Ahmad Shah , and said , " Come forward Ahmad Abdali . Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali , that after me the Kingship will pass on to you . " Nader Shah used to say in admiration that he had not met in Iran , Turan , and Hindustan any man of such laudable talents as Ahmad Abdali possessed . " Nader Shah ' s rule abruptly ended in June 1747 when he was assassinated by his own guards . The guards involved in the assassination did so secretly so as to prevent the Abdalis from coming to their King ' s rescue . However , Ahmad Shah was told that Nader Shah had been killed by one of his wives . Despite the danger of being attacked , the Abdali contingent led by Ahmad Shah rushed either to save Nader Shah or to confirm what happened . Upon reaching the King ' s tent , they were only to see Nader Shah ' s body and severed head . Having served him so loyally , the Abdalis wept at having failed their leader , and headed back to Kandahar . On their way back to Kandahar , the Abdalis had decided that Ahmad Shah would be their new leader , and already began calling him as " Ahmad Shah " . Rise to power . In October 1747 , the chiefs of the Abdali tribes met near Kandahar for a Loya Jirga to choose a leader . For nine days serious discussions were held among the candidates in the Argah . Ahmad Shah kept silent by not campaigning for himself . At last Sabir Shah , a religious figure from the area , came out of his sanctuary and stood before those in the Jirga and said , " He found no one worthy for leadership except Ahmah Shah . He is the most trustworthy and talented for the job . He had Sabir ' s blessing for the nomination because only his shoulders could carry this responsibility " . The leaders and everyone agreed unanimously . Ahmad Shah was chosen to lead the Afghan tribes . Coins where struck after his coronation as King occurred near the tomb of Shaikh Surkh , adjacent to Nader Abad Fort . Despite being younger than other claimants , Ahmad Shah had several overriding factors in his favour : One of Ahmad Shah ' s first acts as chief was to adopt the titles " Padishah - i - Ghazi " ( " victorious emperor " ) , and " Durr - i - Durrani " ( " pearl of pearls " or " pearl of the age " ) . Forming the last Afghan empire . Following his predecessor , Ahmad Shah Durrani set up a special force closest to him consisting mostly of his fellow Durranis and other Pashtuns , as well as Tajiks , Qizilbash and others . Durrani began his military conquest by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzais and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler , and thus strengthened his hold over eastern Khorasan which is most of present - day Afghanistan . Leadership of the various Afghan tribes rested mainly on the ability to provide booty for the clan , and Durrani proved remarkably successful in providing both booty and occupation for his followers . Apart from invading the Punjab region three times between the years 1747 – 1753 , he captured Herat in 1750 and both Nishapur ( Neyshābūr ) and Mashhad in 1751 . Durrani first crossed the Indus River in 1748 , the year after his ascension – his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore during that expedition . The following year ( 1749 ) , the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh and all of the Punjab including the vital trans Indus River to him , in order to save his capital from being attacked by the Afghan forces of the Durrani Empire . Having thus gained substantial territories to the east without a fight , Ahmad Shah and his Afghan forces turned westward to take possession of Herat , which was ruled by Nader Shah ' s grandson , Shah Rukh of Persia . The city fell to Ahmad Shah in 1750 , after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict ; Ahmad Shah and his forces then pushed on into present - day Iran , capturing Nishapur and Mashhad in 1751 . He then pardoned Shah Rukh and reconstituted Khorasan , but a tributary of the Durrani Empire . This marked the westernmost border of the Durrani Empire as set by the Pul - i - Abrisham , on the Mashhad - Tehran road . Meanwhile , in the preceding three years , the Sikhs had occupied the city of Lahore , and Ahmad Shah had to return in 1751 to oust them . In 1752 , Ahmad Shah with his forces invaded and reduced Kashmir . He next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush . In short order , the powerful army brought under its control the Turkmen , Uzbek , Tajik and Hazara people s of northern , central , and western Afghanistan . In 1752 , Kashmiri nobles invited Ahmad Shah Durrani to invade the province and oust the ineffectual Mughal rulers . Then in 1756 – 57 , in what was his fourth invasion of India , Ahmad Shah sacked Delhi and plundered Agra , Mathura , and Vrndavana . However , he did not displace the Mughal dynasty , which remained in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad ' s suzerainty over the Punjab , Sindh , and Kashmir . He installed a puppet emperor , Alamgir II , on the Mughal throne , and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur into the imperial family that same year . He married the daughter of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah . His de facto suzerainity was accepted by the East India Company . Leaving his second son Timur Shah ( who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II ) to safeguard his interests , Durrani finally left India to return to Afghanistan . On his way back he attacked the Golden Temple in Amritsar and filled its sacred pool with the blood of slaughtered cows . Durrani captured Amritsar in 1757 , and sacked the Harmandir Sahib at which point the famous Baba Deep Singh and some of his loyalists were killed by the Afghans . This final act was to be the start of long lasting bitterness between Sikhs and Afghans . Third battle of Panipat . The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb , who died in 1707 . In 1751 – 52 , the " Ahamdiya " treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals , when Balaji Bajirao was the Peshwa . Through this treaty , the Marathas controlled virtually the whole of India from their capital at Pune and Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi ( Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi ) . Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India . Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted . To counter the Afghans , Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent Raghunathrao . He succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore , Multan , Kashmir and other subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule . Thus , upon his return to Kandahar in 1757 , Amidst appeals from Muslim leaders like Shah Waliullah , Ahmad Shah chose to return to India and confront the Maratha Confederacy . He declared a jihad ( Islamic holy war ) against the Marathas , and warriors from various Pashtun tribes , as well as other tribes such as the Baloch , Tajiks , and Muslims from South Asia answered his call . Early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans against the smaller Maratha garrisons in northwest India . By 1759 , Durrani and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas . By 1760 , the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau . Once again , Panipat was the scene of a battle for control of northern India . The Third battle of Panipat ( January 1761 ) , fought between largely Muslim armies of Abdali and Nawabs and largely Hindu Maratha army was waged along a twelve - kilometre front , and resulted in a decisive victory for Ahmad Shah . Kashgaria . Ahmad Shah sought to aid the Muslim city of Kashgar which was being conquered by the expanding Qing dynasty , artempting to rally Muslim states to check Qing expansion . Ahmad Shah halted trade with Qing China and dispatched troops to Kokand . However , with his campaigns in India exhausting the state treasury , and with his troops stretched thin throughout Central Asia , Ahmad Shah did not have enough resources to check Qing forces . In an effort to alleviate the situation in Kashgaria , Ahmad Shah sent envoys to Beijing , but the talks did not yield favourable prospects for the people of Kashgar . Rise of the Sikhs in the Punjab . During the Third Battle of Panipat between Marathas and Ahmad Shah , The Sikhs did not support either side and decided to sitback and see what would happen . The exception was Ala Singh of Patiala , who sided with the Afghans and was actually being granted and crowned the first Sikh Maharajah at the Sikh holy temple . The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah ' s and Afghan power , this situation was not to last long ; the empire soon began to unravel . As early as by the end of 1761 , the Sikhs had begun to rebel in much of the Punjab . In 1762 , Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to crush the Sikhs . He assaulted Lahore and Amritsar . Within two years , the Sikhs rebelled again , and he launched another campaign against them in 1764 , resulting in an even battle . During his 8th invasion of India , the Sikhs vacated Lahore , but faced Abdali ' s army and general , Jahan Khan . The fear of his Indian territory falling to the Sikhs continued to obsess the Durrani ' s mind and he let out another campaign against Sikhs towards the close of 1766 , which was his eighth invasion into India . Death and legacy . Ahmad Shah Durrani died on 16 October 1772 in Kandahar Province . He was buried in the center of Kandahar city adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak , where a large mausoleum was built . It has been described in the following way : In his tomb his epitaph is written : Ahmad Shah ' s victory over the Marathas influenced the history of the subcontinent and , in particular , British policy in the region . His refusal to continue his campaigns deeper into India prevented a clash with the East India Company and allowed them to continue to acquire power and influence after their acquisition of Bengal in 1757 . However , fear of another Afghan invasion was to haunt British policy for almost half a century after the battle of Panipat . The acknowledgment of Abdali ' s military accomplishments is reflected in a British intelligence report on the Battle of Panipat , which referred to Ahmad Shah as the ' King of Kings ' . This fear led in 1798 to a British envoy being sent to the Persian court in part to instigate the Persians in their claims on Herat to forestall an Afghan invasion of British India . Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote of Ahmad Shah : His successors , beginning with his son Timur and ending with Shuja Shah Durrani , proved largely incapable of governing the last Afghan empire and faced with advancing enemies on all sides . Much of the territory conquered by Ahmad Shah fell to others by the end of the 19th century . They not only lost the outlying territories but also alienated some Pashtun tribes and those of other Durrani lineages . Until Dost Mohammad Khan ' s ascendancy in 1826 , chaos reigned in Afghanistan , which effectively ceased to exist as a single entity , disintegrating into a fragmented collection of small countries or units . This policy ensured that he did not continue on the path of other conquerors like Babur or Muhammad of Ghor and make India the base for his empire . In Pakistan , a short - range ballistic missile Abdali - I , is named in the honour of Ahmed Shah Abdali . Ahmad Shah ' s poetry . Ahmad Shah wrote a collection of ode s in his native Pashto language . He was also the author of several poems in Persian . The most famous Pashto poem he wrote was " Love of a Nation " :