The Durrani Empire was a large state that included modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, the Khorasan province of Iran and a section of western India. MECW Volume 18, p. 40; Written by Frederick Engles in July and the first 10 days of August 1857; First published in the New American Cyclopaedia - Vol. I, 1858;...blank">Link The empire was founded in 1747 by _Ahmad Shah Durrani, with its capital at Kandahar. After the death of Ahmad Shah in 1773, kingdom was passed onto his sons followed by his descendants. Ahmad Shah and his descendants were from the Sadozai line of the Abdali (later called Durrani) Pashtuns, making them the second Pashtun rulers of Kandahar, after the Ghilzais.

The Durrani Empire is often considered the origin of the state of Afghanistan. Library of Congress Country Studies, Afghanistan - blank">Ahmad Shah and the Durrani Empire Even before the death of _Nadir Shah of Persia, tribes in the Hindu Kush had been growing stronger and were beginning to take advantage of the waning power of their distant rulers.