Aurangzeb's Afghan war
Aurangzeb captured the Mughal throne at Agra in 1657, after fighting his brothers and imprisoning his father Shah Jahan. The result of this usurpation and infighting were initial revolts in different parts of the Mughal Empire----in the northwest additional causes fuelled a rebellion greater in strength and longer in duration than the others.
The Mughals lost the fort of Kandahar in Afghanistan to the Persians in the reign of Shah Jahan. Attempts by them to recover this important fort, twice under Aurangzeb, ended in failure and dented Mughal prestige. Subsequently the Persian Shah Abbas II had encouraged the Shia Sultanates in the Deccan to assert their independence while Aurangzeb was fighting his brothers-----he even threatened to invade India around 1664-65. Though the danger never materialized these incidents left their impact on the frontier peoples, the Afghans.
Divided into numerous tribes, the Afghans were subjects of the Mughal Empire. Their brethren joined the empire's armies and were settled in different parts of India to keep the local Hindu resistance in check (this was specially the case in Uttar Pradesh). Within their frontier homeland of dry rugged hills and narrow valleys, the Afghans (i.e. Pasthuns) could not sustain their population on agriculture, and gained more from taxing trade caravans traversing the Khyber Pass.
But even this did not satiate their growing numbers; hence they were always on the lookout for raiding each others lands, or seeking such opportunities in the neighboring Mughal territory.
Mughal Administration
The frontier regions formed part of the province of Kabul, and the Mughal viceroy was stationed at that town. Under him were governors at Peshawar, Jalalabad, and Attock, with their military quotas and lesser officers to hold numerous other hill-posts.
The policy of the Mughal government since the days of Akbar was to maintain a strong military presence, invade the lands of a tribe that broke the peace, and bribe the other tribes to join in the plunder of their neighbour.
Divisions among the different tribes were natural, but divisions within a tribe and in families were also a useful tool for the Mughals to control the Afghans. Unlike the
Rajput clans, who generally obeyed their clan-heads and followed them into war, the Afghans only did so if their chief was a capable leader and could get them monetary gains. If that chief was incapable then someone else rose up to claim the leadership of the tribe.
The drawback of such a system was the proliferation of leaders and fighting groups among the Afghans, ocassionaly uniting among themselves, but incapable of making any long-term plan of operation. The only time when the Afghans have been a nation was under Ahmad Shah Abdali — and he had Persians and Uzbeks in his army to keep the Afghan element in check.
The Afghans were closely matched to the Mughals in military resources — weilding firearms they took advantage of the broken nature of their country to lay ambushes for the advancing enemy. Concealing themselves behind rocks and trees and on mountain tops till the enemy was caught in a trap. Only the Mughal artillery and cavalry could break up their formations when caught off-guard.
The first rising was of the Yusufzai in 1667.
From their homes in the region of Swat (green portion of map) the Yusufzai spread south into Attock and east into Hazara in 1667. Their leader was Bhagu, who had proclaimed himself Wazir of their puppet king, and had obtained religious sanction from Mullah Chalak (showing the susceptibility of the Pashtuns to religious extremism, as seen earlier from their role in the Raushaniya rising against Akbar).
The Mullah himself led the first body of 5000 Yusufzai across the River Indus into Hazara where they captured the fort of Chhachal and expelled the local Mughal officers. Other Yusufzai bands penetrated into the Peshawar district.
The governor of Attock, Kamil Khan, retaliated by marching into the Yusufzai homeland, forcing the invaders to rush back for its defence. The Mughal officer with the loyal Khattak Pashtuns, enemies of the Yusufzai, was reinforced by more men sent from Peshawar: Gakkhars from the Punjab and Rajputs under Maha Singh Bhadauria.
They marched along the course of the Indus and attacked the over 20,000 Yusufzai who were blocking that ferry point across the river. The Mughal artillery broke their formation and the cavalry completed the Yusufzai defeat — 2000 were killed and many more drowned in the river. A pyramid of their severed heads was built on the river bank but the main body of the tribe escaped across the river.
The Mughals made a long halt at that ferry, not being strong enough to take on the Yusufzai in their own home.
Meanwhile the viceroy of Kabul sent another force under Shamshir Khan, which followed the Kabul river east and then swerved north to join the force under Kamil Khan. The united army crossed the River Indus into the Yusufzai lands — their villages were burnt, the crops trampled, and property looted by the Mughals. But the invasion caused other tribes, like the Akuzai and the Malizai, in the neighbourhood to join the Yusufzai in resisting the invaders.
A new viceroy
In 1668 Aurangzeb appointed his Mir Bakshi, Muhammad Amin Khan (a Persian officer and the son of the famous Mir Jumla), at the head of a force of 9000 to crush the Yusufzai.
By this time Shahbaz Khan had bribed the Utmanzai tribe to side with the Mughals. Amin Khan took over command from him and pressed further into the lands of the Yusufzai and their allies, sacking the fertile Swat valley.
Villages like Hijaz and Karahmar were destroyed and the territory of Bajaur was also invaded. The remaining pockets of Yusufzai resistance were the high peaks of their mountain homes, but even these were scaled by the Mughals and large numbers of Pathans were killed or taken prisoner.
The Yusufzai were finally defeated but the Mughals did not take any chancesâ€â€Ã¢â‚¬â€other garrisons in the region were strengthened. In 1671 Maharaja Jaswant Singh and his Rathor clansmen were appointed to hold the post of Jamrud on the road to Kabul.
They saw action only a year later in the rising of the Afridi and allied tribes in the Khyber region....
While the new viceroy, the Persian officer Muhammad Amin Khan, took his post in Kabul, his deputy in Jalalabad came into conflict with the Afridi tribe. Under the leadership of Akmal Khan, the Afridis closed the Khyber Pass in the spring of 1672, and proclaimed war against the Mughals calling on all Pathan clans to join them.
Akmal Khan went so far as to strike coins in his name as a sign of independence.
The haughty Mughal viceroy, who had been passing the winter at Peshawar, moved to Kabul for the summer months, disregarding his officer's advice. He had with him all his family and camp followers, which slowed down the rest of his army, and doomed them to an ambush in the narrow gorge at Ali Masjid.
The Persian nobleman opened negotiations with the Afghans but the price they demanded was too high and he tried force. In the battle that followed the Afghans rained down arrows, bullets, and stones from the hill-tops on the Mughals. The army broke into a confused mass into which the triumphant enemy chargedâ€â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Muhammad Amin Khan and his officers escaped with their lives to Peshawar but in the words of the Mughal chronicler:
Ten thousand men fell under the enemy's sword in the field, and above two crores of rupees in cash and kind was looted by the enemy. They captured 20,000 men and women and sent them to Central Asia for sale. Amin Khan's own family, including his wife, were among the prisoners but he secured their release by paying a huge ransom. All the Mughal lands across the Khyber Pass were lost to the Afghan tribes — only Jaswant Singh continued to hold post at Jamrud beneath the pass.
General Afghan rising
News of this great victory, and of the immense riches gained by Akmal Khan, spread like wildfire among the Pathans. Many of them came over to his army; other tribes raised the banner of revolt against the Mughals. The recently supressed Yusufzai's recovered their lands from Mughal occupation.
The Khattak tribe, located in the southern portions of Peshwar, rose under their chieftain Khushal Khan, who had recently served in the Mughal campaign against his hereditary enemies the Yusufzais. Khushal joined up with Akmal and inspired the Afghans with his poetry and by his victories over the isolated Mughal posts.
Aurangzeb heard of the disaster in May 1672. He first sent the viceroy of Lahore, Fidai Khan, to hold Peshawar against any further advance by the exultant enemy. Mahabat Khan, viceroy of the Deccan then engaged in fighting the great Shivaji, was appointed to recover Kabul since he had governed the province thrice before.
But the now old Mahabat had no interest in fighting the tribes and he came to a secret understanding with them. Aurangzeb then sent Shujaet Khan in the winter of 1673-74 as an independent commander to open the road to Kabul.
Shujaet avoided the besieged Khyber Pass and took his army towards the lesser known Karapa Pass a little to the north of the River Kabul. But a heavy snowfall on 21 February, booged down his army, the vigilant Afghans followed close behind and surrounded the Mughals from the hill-tops.
From this vantage point they launched bullets, arrows, and stones throughout the night — charging the shaken enemy at dawn. Shujaet Khan was killed but a portion of his army was saved because Jaswant Singh had wisely sent up a body of 500 Rajput cavalry with guns who broke through the enemy's cordon.
Aurangzeb takes command
Aurangzeb was now convinced that an all-out campaign under his own command, and with better resources, was required to crush the Afghans. Accompanying him were Fidai Khan (now appointed viceroy of Kabul), the Turk noble Aghar Khan, and the Afghan (i.e. Indian Pathan from UP) noble Dilir Khan known to us from his
battles against Shivaji.
His young son Akbar marched by way of Kohat (blue portion in map south of Peshawar), accompanied by Asad Khan and Jaswant Singh, and avoiding the Khyber route captured Kabul in 1674. The Khyber Afghans were now trapped — from Peshawar Mughal detachments entered the lands of the Ghorai, Shirrani, and Yusufzai tribes, burnt their villages and took thousands of prisoners, and sold them into slavery.
These victories cowed the Daudzai, Tarakzai, and Tirahi tribes into submission. Cracks appeared within the families of the rebels. Akmal Khan's relatives offered to arrest him if they were pardoned, Bhagu's son joined the Mughals, Khushal Khan's son also took up Mughal service. The Bangash and other tribes i nthe region came to the Mughal side.
Meanwhile Agahar Khan had been trying to force open the Khyber Pass. He had first defeated the Mohmands posted on the south flank and then ousted the main Afghan army of 40,000 from the Ali Masjid defile. Followed by Fidai Khan, the new viceroy, he captured Jalalabad and tried to link up with the Mughals at Kabul by way of the Jegdalek Pass.
The Ghilzai tribe had sworn to hold the pass but were ousted by him after a long battle. Fidai Khan reached Kabul and Prince Akbar returned to Peshawar. But the Afghans had not been crushed—they retreated to remote valleys to lick their wounds, recoup losses, and waited for another chance.
Fidai Khan on his return from Kabul in the Spring of 1675 was attacked in the Jegdalek Pass, losing many of his soldiers and camp-followers, but Aghar Khan came up from Gandamak and rescued him.
The crisis of the war was over.....all the Mughal posts were strongly held, revenue was collected from the obedient tribes, and caravans went through the Khyber and other passes. All that remained now was to crush the old die-hards.
The new governor Amir Khan, appointed in 1677, brought over the remaining Afghan chieftains to his side by paying them subsidies. He created divisions among the followers of Akmal Khan by pointing out how the greater share of plunder was going into the hands of the Afridi tribe. On his death the tribe submitted to the Mughals. Khushal was betrayed by his son and captured soon after.
But before all this, a more momentous event that would change the history of India, took place towards the end of 1678. Maharaja Jaswant Singh, holding the post of Jamrud with his army, died that winter, and this event gave Aurangzeb the opportunity to annex his kingdom (Jodhpur), divide the Hindu territory of Rajputana into two separate halves that could be crushed in detail, and impose jaziya on the Hindu population—bringing to life his long-cherished dream of
making India an Islamic State.
NOTE: All the Afghan lands were not involved in this war, which centred on the Peshawar-Jalalabad-Kabul axis. Afghan tribes in North Baluchistan and the Sulaiman Range remained unaffected by this conflict.
This same story has been repeated for generals in other ages. Kunwar Man Singh in Akbar's time, Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa in the 19th Century, and to British generals in a later period.
