History of Afghanistan

Hotaki Dynasti

The Hotaki dynasty was a Pashtun (Afghan) dynasty that ruled the Persian Empire after the Safavid dynasty and before the rise of the Afsharid dynasty.
It was founded in 1709 by Mirwais Khan Hotak, the chief of the Ghilzai Pashtuns of Kandahar. Mirwais and his followers rise against the Persian Safavids, starting in the city of Kandahar in 1709.
He began his rule by killing George XI (Gurgīn Khān), the Georgian governor of Kandahar, the representative of the Persian kings.

Then Mirwais ordered the deaths of the remaining Persian government officials in the region. The Ghilzai Afghans then defeated the Persian army that was dispatched from Isfahan (capital of the Safavid Empire).
            Mirwais Khan Hotak died peacefully in 1715 from natural cause and was replaced by his son Mir Mahmud Hotaki, who later led his army to invade Persia.
In 1722, Mir Mahmud conquested the city of Isfahan and declared himself Shah of Persia (King of Persia). However, the great majority still rejected the Ghilzai.
For the next 7 years the Hotaki became the rulers of eastern Persia and the Peshawar Valley. The Hotaki dynasty was a troubled and violent and had internecine conflict that made it difficult to establish permanent control. The Hotaki dynasty container bloody battles and after numerus massakres of thousends of civilians in Isfihan - religious scholars and memoers of the Safavid family - the Hotaki dynasty was eventually removed from power in Persia.
In October 1729, they were defeated by Nader Shah, head of the Afsharids, in the Battle of Damghan and pushed back to what is now Afghanistan. Nader shah marched his army through Kandahar in 1738 With his army and eliminated the Hotaki dynasty.