Shahrokh Afshar’s dual Policy of confrontation and interaction in the face of Ahmad Shah Durrani’s military activities in Khorasan

During Shahrokh Afshar’s reign in Khorasan, Ahmad Shah Durrani marched to Khorasan three times. Meanwhile, Shahrokh, who was not able to face Ahmad Shah directly, tried to deal with this issue with a different policy. He prevented the capture of Mashhad by taking refuge in the city’s fortress for a while, but eventually he was obliged to negotiate and Ahmad Shad controlled Mashhad by appointing a delegate. In the present article, which has been written using descriptive and analytical method, Ahmad Shah’s motivation for invading Khorasan and the description of his conflicts in various regions, particularly in Mashhad and Shahrokh’s position and dual policies of confrontation and interaction in facing him have been investigated. The findings indicate that Ahmad Shah’s history of service in Nader’s army played a significant role in his knowledge of the elements of power and the structure of Afsharid reign and his military expedition to Khorasan, and despite his success, whenever the disgruntled Shahrokh had the opportunity, he disobeyed him and expressed his opposition. Meanwhile, the local rulers of Khorasan’s resistance against Ahmad Shah was also fruitful, so that he finally agreed to obey Shahrokh and returned to his own capital. However, these wars caused the destruction of various cities and great damage to the people of Khorasan, which could not be compensated for a long time.