Rise to power and Reign of Mirwais Hotak Decline of the Safavids The
Shi'a Safavids ruled Loy Kandahar as their easternmost territory from the 16th century until the early 18th century. At the same time, the native Afghan tribes living in the area were
Sunni Muslims. Immediately to the east was the powerful Sunni
Mughal Empire, who occasionally fought wars with the powerful Safavids over the territory of southern Afghanistan. The
Khanate of Bukhara controlled the area to the north at the same time. By the late 17th century, the Safavids started to decline. With the death of
Shah Abbas in 1629, succeeding Safavid rulers were less effective and caused the empire to decline. On 29 July 1694,
Shah Suleiman died and
Sultan Husayn took the throne. Under his reign the problems worsened. Husayn barely left the palace during his reign, not an uncommon aspect of many later Safavid Shahs. Later Safavid rulers were immobile and their courts were riddled with factionalism unlike their more mobile ancestors who spent more time on campaigns and had smaller courts.
Governorship of Gurgin Khan In 1704, the Safavid Shah
Husayn appointed his Georgian subject and king of
Kartli George XI (
Gurgīn Khān), a convert to
Islam, as the governor of
Kandahar. This would encourage the Ghilzais to revolt against Safavid rule, and Mirwais was involved in one of these revolts. Gurgin Khan found out and sent Mirwais to
Isfahan. he returned to Kandahar and waited for the opportunity to kill Gurgin Khan. Mirwais and his men ambushed Gurgin Khan on 21 April and killed him. He planned to conquer the Persian capital, Isfahan. The siege lasted about six months and the people of Isfahan were in such a state of hunger that they were forced to eat rats and dogs. On 23 October 1722, Sultan Husayn abdicated and acknowledged Mahmud as the new Shah of Persia. For the next seven years until 1729, the Hotaks were the de facto rulers of most of Persia, and the southern areas of Afghanistan remained under their control until 1738. The
Bakhtiari attacked and killed thousands of Hotakis. Mahmoud Hotaki's campaign against the Bakhtiari was met with disappointment and heavy casualties, ultimately failing to capture the Bakhtiari lands. The Hotak dynasty was a troubled and violent one from the very start as an internecine conflict made it difficult to establish permanent control. The majority of Persians rejected the leaders as usurpers, and the dynasty lived under great turmoil due to bloody succession feuds that made their hold on power tenuous. After the massacre of thousands of civilians in Isfahan – including more than three thousand religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family – the Hotak dynasty was eventually removed from power in Persia.
Decline , illustrating
Persian decisive artillery fire against the Afghans in 1729
Ashraf Hotak took over the monarchy following Shah Mahmud's death in 1725. He had to deal with a Safavid loyalist movement in the south led by
Sayyed Ahmad, who had taken over much of Fars, Hormozgan, and Kerman. Ashraf's army was defeated in the October 1729 at the
Battle of Damghan by Nader Shah Afshar, an Iranian soldier of fortune from the
Afshar tribe, and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty that replaced the Safavids in Persia. Nader Shah had driven out and banished the remaining Ghilji forces from Persia and began enlisting some of the
Abdali Afghans of
Farah and Kandahar in his military. Nader Shah's forces, among them
Ahmad Shah Abdali and his 4,000 Abdali troops, went on to conquer Kandahar in 1738. They
besieged and destroyed the last Hotak seat of power, which was held by
Hussain Hotak (or Shah Hussain). Nader Shah then built a new town nearby, named "
Naderabad" after himself. The Abdalis were then restored to the general area of Kandahar, with the Ghiljis being pushed back to their former stronghold of
Kalat-i Ghilji. This arrangement lasts to the present day. ==List of rulers==