Hotaki

The Hotaki were a Ghilzai Pashtun (Afghan) dynasty (1709-1738). They rose against Persian rule in the early 18th century. The Persian army was defeated and the Afghans briefly controlled Afghanistan and eastern parts of Iran from 1719-1729. They were led by Mir Wais Khan who rebelled against the rule of the Georgian-born governor Gurgin Khan and successfully defeated the Safavid armies at Kandahar. Following Mir Wais' death in 1715, his son Mahmud led an Afghan army to invade Persia and again defeated the Safavids at Gulnabad in 1722 to establish their control. The short-lived dynasty was a troubled and violent one as internecine conflict made it difficult to establish permanent control. The Hotaki dynasty lived under great turmoil due to bloody succession feuds that made their hold on power tenuous. Nadir Shah of Persia defeated them in the Battle of Damghan, 1729. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by 1730. In 1738, Nadir Shah reconquered afghanistan starting with Kandahar, In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore.