Timur Shah (1748 - 18 May 1793), the second son of Ahmad Shah and the second of the Durrani Dynasty, was the King of Afghanistan from 16 October 1772 until his death.

Timur had a quick rise to power; marrying a daughter of the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II he received Sirhind as a wedding gift, and later his father made him governor of Punjab, Kashmir and the Sirhind district in 1757 when he was only 9 years old. He ruled from Lahore under the regency of his Wazir, the general Jahan Khan , who administered these territories for approximately one year, from May 1757 until April 1758. Timur and Jahan were never able to establish law and order.

Adina Beg Khan , governor of the Julundur Doab , along with Raghunath Rao leading the Maratha empire, forced Timur and Jahan from Punjab and put in place their own government under Adina Beg Khan. In 1759, Ahmad Shah finally conquered Punjab, invading with a force of 60,000 against the Marathas 45,000. The conflict reached its conclusion in the battle of Panipat on January 14, 1761. The deciding factor was not the numerical superiority. As usual with the Mongols, it was their discipline, their firepower, their communications, and their mobility that proved decisive. The Marathas were given a humiliating defeat which cost them the flower of their youth as well as 50,000 horses. They were not to recover from the blow.

When Timur succeeded his father in 1772, the regional chieftains only reluctantly accepted him, and most of his reign was spent fighting a civil war to resist rebellion. During his reign, the Durrani Empire began to crumble forcing the move of its capital from Kandahar to Kabul.

Timur died in 1793, and was then succeeded by his fifth son Zaman Shah.

External links

• An old portrait of Timur Shah Durrani