Abdali invaded the Mughal Empire seven times from 1748 to 1767. According to Jaswant Lal Mehta, Durrani aroused the Afghans "religious passions" to fire and "sword into the land of infidels India." He crossed the Khyber pass in December 1747 with 40,000 troops for his first invasion of India. He occupied Peshawar without any opposition. He first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension - his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore. The following year , 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 forces of the Durrani Empire. Having thus gained substantial territories to the east without a fight, Durrani and his forces turned westward to take possession of Herat, which was ruled by Nader Shah's grandson, Shah Rukh. The city fell to the Afghans in 1750, after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict; the Afghan forces then pushed on into present-day Iran, capturing Nishapur and Mashhad in 1751. Durrani then pardoned Shah Rukh and reconstituted Khorasan, but a tributary of the Durrani Empire. This marked the westernmost border of the Afghan Empire as set by the Pul-i-Abrisham, on the Mashhad-Tehran road.. Who was forcing to take possession of Herat?