question_answer

How do you think that Qandhar remained a bone of contention between the Mughals and the Safavids? Explain.

Answer:

The political and diplomatic relations between the Mughal kings and the neighbouring countries of Iran and Turan hinged on the control of the frontier defined by the Hindukush mountains that separated Afghanistan from the regions of Iran and Central Asia. All conquerors who sought to make their way into the Indian Subcontinent had to cross the Hindukush to have access to North India. There was a constant effort by the Mughal policy to ward off this potential danger by controlling strategic outposts - notably Kabul and Qandahar. Qandahar was a bone of contention between the Safavids and the Mughals. The fortress town had initially been in the possession of Humayun, reconquered in 1595 by Akbar. While the Safavid Court retained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, it continued to stake claims to Qandahar. In 1613, Jahangir sent a diplomatic envoy to the court of Shah Abbas to plead the Mughal case for retaining Qandahar but the mission failed. In the winter of 1622 a Persian army besieged Qandahar. The ill-prepared Mughal garrison was defeated and had to surrender the fortress and the city to the Safavids.