TheMughal–Safavid war of 1622–1623 was fought over the important fortress city ofKandahar, inAfghanistan, between the Safavid Empire and the Mughal Empire.
Muhammad Ali Beg was thePersian ambassador sent to the Mughal court ofJahangir byAbbas I of Persia, arriving in time forMuharram in March 1631. He remained there until October 1632, thus negotiating an end to the conflict between the Mughals and theSafavids.
Shah Abbas had desired to capture the strategic fortress in Kandahar since he had lost it in 1595.[1] In 1605 the governor ofHerat, Husein Khan, besieged the city but the tenacious defense of the Mughal governor, Shah Beg Khan, and the arrival in the next year of a relieving Mughal army to Kandahar forced the Safavids to retreat.[2][3] With the conclusion of theOttoman–Safavid War (1603–18), Shah Abbas was secure enough for a war on his eastern frontier,[1] so in 1621 he ordered an army to gather atNishapur.[1] After celebrating theIranian New Year at Tabas Gilaki in southernKhorasan, Abbas joined with his army and marched on Kandahar where he arrived on 20 May and immediately began the siege.[1] ThoughJahangir had information of the Persian's movements he was slow to respond,[1] and without reinforcements, the small garrison of 3,000 men could not hold for long.[4]
The Emperor asked his son and heir apparentKhurram who was atMandu in theDeccan to lead the campaign and move the Barha Sayyids, the Indian Bukhari Sayyids, the Shaikhzadas, and the Rajputs back to the north,[5] but Khurram evaded the assignment fearing to lose his political power while he was away from court.[6] The relief force the Mughals could assemble proved too small to raise the siege,[3] so after a 45-day siege the city fell on 22 June followed shortly after byZamindawar.[7] After fortifying the city and appointingGanj Ali Khan as governor of the city,[2] Abbas returned toKhorasan viaGhur, subduing on the way troubling emirs inChaghcharan andGharjistan.[8] The rebellion of Khurram absorbed the Mughals' attention, so in the spring of 1623 a Mughal envoy arrived at the Shah's camp with a letter from the Emperor accepting the loss of Kandahar and putting an end to the conflict.[9]
Safavid Iran.svg)
Mughal Empire
