officers during an audience with king
Varkhuman of
Samarkand. 648–651 CE,
Afrasiyab murals. They are recognizable by their long
plaits. The Turks definitely intended to take control of the territories south of the Oxus, but were only ready sometime later, and took the opportunity when the Sasanian Empire again entered into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. In 625, Tong Yabgu invaded
Tokharistan and forced the
Hephthalite principalities to submit. He went as far as the
Indus River and took control of all the intervening principalities, replacing Hepthalite rulers by Turk ones. The areas of
Khuttal and
Kapisa-
Gandhara had remained independent kingdoms under the easternmost "Hephthalites" (actually
Alchon Hun) under kings such as
Narendra, before being taken over as vassals by the Western Turks.
Reign of Ishbara Yabgu (630–650) Ishbara Yabgu () was the son of Tardu Shad, and took over as Tokharistan Yabgu. Other known mints are
Herat and
Shuburgan. In 652–653 CE, the Arabs under
Abdallah ibn Amir conquered the whole of Tokharistan and captured the city of
Balkh, as part of the
Muslim conquests of Afghanistan. During the rule of the Umayyad caliph
Ali (656–661), the Arabs were expulsed from eastern Iran, as far as
Nishapur and the Sasanian
Peroz III was able to establish some level of control with the help of the yabghu of Tokharistan in
Seistan. He ruled from
Badakshan, as the area of
Balkh and the central areas of his territory were occupied by the Arabs, including Shuburgan, Khusp and Herat. Puluo described the power of "the Kings of Tokharistan", explaining that "Two hundred and twelve kingdoms, governors and prefects" recognize the authority of the Yabghus, and that it has been so since the time of his grandfather, that is, probably since the time of the establishment of the Yabghus of Tokharistan. The territory of
Guzgan was also mentioned among the territories controlled by the Yabghus. Puluo, writing in 718 CE, finally reaffirmed the loyalty of the Tokhara Yabghus towards the Tang dynasty, probably since the time of the fall of the
Western Turks to China (657), confirming at least nominal control of the Chinese administration over the region for the last sixty years:
Temporary conquest of Khorasan over the Arabs (689–710 CE) , the
Hephthalite ruler of
Badghis and the Arab rebel Musa ibn Abd Allah ibn Khazim, son of the
Zubayrid governor of Khurasan
Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami, allied against the forces of the
Umayyad Caliphate. The Hepthalites and their allies captured
Termez in 689, repelled the Arabs, and occupied the whole region of
Khorasan for a brief period, with Termez as they capital, described by the Arabs as "the headquarters of the Hephthalites" (
dār mamlakat al-Hayāṭela). The Arabs of the
Umayyad Caliphate under
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab re-captured
Termez in 704.
Nezak Tarkan, the ruler of the Hephthalites of Badghis, led a new revolt in 709 with the support of other principalities as well as his nominal ruler, the Yabghu of Tokharistan.
Contacts with the Byzantine Empire n Buddhist pilgrim
Hui Chao in 726 CE. The
Byzantine Emperor
Leo III the Isaurian who had
defeated their common enemy the Arabs in 717 CE, sent
an embassy to China through Central Asia in 719 CE which probably met with the Tokhara Yabghus and the
Turk Shahis, who in honour of the Byzantine Emperor even named one of their own rulers "Caesar of Rome" (which they rendered phonetically as King "
Fromo Kesaro").
Chinese sources Turk (
"T’u-chüeh") kingdoms were in the territories of Gandhara, Kapisa and
Zabulistan around 723–729 CE, according to the testimony the Korean pilgrim
Hui Chao. ==Kapisa-Gandhara==