Afghan Khanates

The origin and development of feudal socio-economic relations among the Pashtun tribes created internal prerequisites for the formation of a single Afghan state. Favorable external factors also contributed to this: the collapse of the Mughal empire in India , the collapse of the Nadir Shah empire in Iran, and the continued feudal feuds in Central Asia .

The first proper tribal-based Afghan khanates began to play a prominent political role from the 16th – 17th centuries. - Hatta near Peshawar , Herat , Gilzai with its capital in Kandahar . Since the middle of the XVII century. the Abdali tribes (Herat) and the Gilzai tribes (Kandahar) came under the rule of the Safavid Iran . At the beginning of the XVIII century, the Gilzai, led by Mir Weiss, not only proclaimed Kandahar the center of an independent state, but also moved to Iran , where Mir Weiss's son Mir Mahmud entered Isfahan and proclaimed himself in 1722 as shahanshah . Until 1729 , when Nadir Shah reinstated Shah Tahmasp on the throne, the Afghan leaders, replacing each other in internecine battles, were in Isfahan . But ultimately, due to the contradictions between the tribes, the whole of Afghanistan was included in the power of Nadir Shah.

After the death of Nadir Shah, his empire fell apart. At the Jirge in Kandahar in 1747, Ahmad Shah was elected Shah of Afghanistan. His abdalli tribe was renamed durrani ("pearl"), and the new state was called the Durrani Empire.

Under the successors of Ahmad Shah, the Durrani Empire collapsed. In its place, the Kabul Khanate was formed , which in 1836 was proclaimed the emirate.

As Russian possessions approached the borders of Afghanistan, the military significance of Turkey and Persia gradually fell in the eyes of the British and instead of this, the importance of Afghanistan became the only barrier separating Russian possessions from the borders of India . The British tried to form an alliance with Afghanistan or to create many puppet states to control this strategically important territory. These were the reasons that made England already in 1808 enter into relations with Afghanistan , and subsequently waged a difficult and lengthy armed struggle with it twice (the wars of 1838–1842 and 1878–1880).

• Principality of Gilzey
• Herat Khanate
• Kabul Khanate
• Kandahar Khanate
• Peshawar Khanate
• Khattan principality
• Principality of Abdalia

• Historical features of the formation of Afghan statehood
• Afghans and the Durrani Empire