Safavid capture of Kandahar (1622)

01Shah Abbas strikes

After the failed attempt of 1605–06 Shah Abbas kept up friendly letters and embassies with Jahangir while he waited. In the winter of 1621–22 he marched on Kandahar himself with a large army and siege guns. The fort’s garrison was small and its defences neglected. The siege lasted about six weeks. Abdul Aziz Khan, the commander, surrendered and was allowed to leave for India, where Jahangir received him in disgrace.

02The prince who would not go

Jahangir ordered his most able son, Prince Khurram, later Shah Jahan, to march from the Deccan to Kandahar. Khurram, suspecting that Nur Jahan meant to keep him far from court while her son-in-law Shahryar gained ground, demanded command of the Punjab and other terms. When these were refused he rebelled, and the empire spent four years in civil war. Kandahar was forgotten. It came back to the Mughals only in 1638, when its Persian governor Ali Mardan Khan handed it over to Shah Jahan.