29/02/2024
Mughal-Safawi War of 1649-1653:
This battle was fought between 1649 and 1653, in what was then Afghanistan, which is still Afghanistan today. In this battle, two big empires clashed with each other, one was the Mughals and the other was the Safavid Empire. This battle was fought to conquer the city of Kandahar. Kandahar was a very important city, which was very important in terms of trade and strategy at that time.
In 1646, Prince Murad Baksh, son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, attacked the city of Balkh, north of Kandahar. This attack was carried out against Janid Uzbeks. Because of this attack the Safavids got an opportunity. Safavid emperor Shah Abbas II, seeing the Mughals engaged in this battle, decided to take back Kandahar. It is noteworthy that Kandahar fell into the hands of the Mughals in 1634.
The Safavids, seeing the Mughals busy, marched towards Kandahar in December 1648 with a large army under the leadership of Zal Khan Beg. As historian Irwin Graham writes in his book "The Manichaean Heresy: An Introduction", "The Mughal army, weakened by the Battle of Balkh, did not offer much resistance to the Safavids, and Kandahar fell into the hands of the Safavids in February 1649."
The fall of Kandahar was a major setback for the Mughals. Shahjahan tried several times to take back Kandahar.
