Ahmad Shah Durrani

Ahmad Shah Durrani, born Ahmad Khan Abdali around 1720 to 1722, was a Pashtun military leader who founded the Durrani Empire and is widely regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. He rose to prominence after the assassination of his patron, Nader Shah, in 1747, and was crowned near Kandahar the same year, founding the Durrani Empire. Over the following twenty five years he led extensive military campaigns across West, Central, and South Asia, including nine major invasions of India, three campaigns in Khorasan, and operations in Afghan Turkestan, building one of the largest Islamic empires of the era, spanning Afghanistan, much of present day Pakistan, Iranian Khorasan, and parts of northern India. Historians regard him as a formidable military strategist, often compared to Mahmud of Ghazni and Babur, though his campaigns also involved significant atrocities, including massacres and the enslavement of conquered populations. He died at Maruf in October 1772 and was buried in Kandahar. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/