Editing Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (section)

===Khorasan===

{{main|Muslim conquest of Khorasan}}
[[File:Transoxiana 8th century.svg|thumb|300px|[[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], [[Transoxiana]] and [[Tokharistan]] in the 8th century]]

There is general agreement among Arabic sources that Khorasan's conquest began in the reign of [[Uthman]] under Abdallah b. Amir, who had been appointed the governor of Basra (r. 649–655). [[Sayf ibn Umar|Sayf]]'s tradition however disagrees with this, dating it to 639 under the reign of [[Umar]] with [[Ahnaf ibn Qais]] leading the expedition. [[Al-Tabari]] meanwhile relates that Ahnaf's conquests occurred in 643. This could be because of confusion of Ahnaf's later activities under Ibn Amir and an attempt to magnify his role in Khorasan's conquest.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_03AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16|title=The 'Abbāsid Revolution|page=16|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author=M. A. Shaban|isbn=9780521295345|date=1979-03-08}}</ref>

The conquest of southern Persia was completed by 23 AH with Khorasan remaining the only region remaining unconquered. Since the Muslims did not want any Persian land to remain under Persian rule, Umar ordered Ahnaf b. Qais to march upon it. After capturing the towns of [[Tabas]] and [[Ferdows|Tun]], he attacked the region's easternmost city [[Herat]]. The Persians put up stiff resistance but were defeated and surrendered. A garrison was deployed in the city, while a column was detached which subjugated [[Nishapur]] and [[Tus, Iran|Tus]].<ref name=AIAkram>{{cite book|title=The Muslim Conquest of Persia|publisher=Maktabah Booksellers and Distributors|author=Agha Ibrahim Akram|pages=280, 281|author-link=Agha Ibrahim Akram}}</ref> Umar had dispatched Ahnaf with 12,000 men from Kufa and Basra after Yazdegerd who had fled to Merv. After the Arabs arrived there, Yazdegerd fled to [[Marw al-Rudh]] from where he sent ambassadors to the [[Khakan]] of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Turks]], the ruler of [[Sogdia|Soghd]] and the Chinese emperor, asking for their assistance. Yazdegerd later fled to Balkh, where he was defeated by the Arabs and fled across [[Oxus River]].<ref name=Bombay/>

Umar forbade Ahnaf from crossing the river as the land beyond it was unknown to Arabs and was very far for them.<ref name=AIAkram/> Yazdegerd proceeded to Soghd whose ruler supplied him with a large army. The Khaqan of Turks after assembling the troops from [[Ferghana]], crossed the Oxus along with Yazdegerd and marched to Balkh. Ribi' b. Amir meanwhile retired with Kufan troops to Marw al-Rudh where he joined al-Ahnaf.<ref name=Bombay/> The Sasanian king and the Khakan leading an army of 50,000 cavalry composed of men from Soghd, [[Turkestan]], Balkh and [[Tokharistan]], arrived at Marw al-Rudh. Ahnaf had an army of 20,000 men. The two sides fought each other from morning till evening for two months at a place called Deir al-Ahnaf.<ref name=Bombay/>

The fighting at Deir al-Ahnaf went on until Ahnaf, after being informed of a Turkic chief inspecting the outposts, went there during a particular night and successively killed three Turkic chiefs during their inspection. After learning of their deaths, the Khakan became afflicted by it and withdrew to Balkh, then he withdrew across the river to Turkestan. Yazdegerd meanwhile left from Marw al-Rudh to Merv, from where he took his empire's wealth and proceeded to Balkh to join the Khakan. He told his officials that he wanted to hand himself to the protection of the Turks, but they advised him against it and asked him to seek protection from the Arabs which he refused. He left for Turkestan while his officials took away his treasures and gave them to Ahnaf, submitting to the Arabs and being allowed to go back to their respective homes.<ref name=Bombay>{{cite book|title=The Journal, Volume 11|pages=213, 214|publisher=[[The Asiatic Society of Mumbai|Asiatic Society of Bombay]]|year=1969}}</ref>

Abdullah b. Amir went to Khorasan from Kerman in 650 and set out along with a vanguard of [[Banu Tamim|Tamimi Arabs]] and 1,000 [[asawira]] via Quhistan. The people of [[Tabasayn]] had broken their peace treaty and had allied with the [[Hepthalites]] of [[Herat Province|Herat]]. al-Ahnaf reconquered Quhistan and defeated Herat's Hepthalites at [[Nishapur]]. The [[kanarang]] or marzban of [[Tus, Iran|Tus]] asked the Arabs for assistance against the raiding Hepthalites of Herat and [[Badghis]]. He agreed to a peace agreement for 600,000 dinars.<ref name=Doryajee2>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jxd2Zr9Ilw8C&pg=PA215|title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History|author=Touraj Daryaee|page=215|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|author-link=Touraj Daryaee|isbn=9780199732159|date=2012-02-16}}</ref>

The Hepthalite action prompted the Muslims undertaking military operation to secure their positions in Khorasan. After the fall of Tus, Ibn Amir sent out an army against Herat. The ruler (marzaban or ''azim'') of the place agreed to a peace treaty for Herat, Badghis and [[Pushang]] for a tribute of 1 million dirhams.<ref name=Doryajee2/> The ruler who was known as ''azim'' or the "mighty one" in ''[[Futuh al-Buldan]]'', may have been a Hepthalite chief.<ref name=Gibb>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJQ3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA56|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume V|author=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb|page=56|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|author-link=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb|year=1967}}</ref> The [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun Caliphs]] followed the earlier rule of [[Muhammad]] of imposing ''[[jizya]]'' on several bodies jointly and in some cases also imposed the condition that they host Muslims. This rule was followed in most Iranian towns, with the jizya not specified on per capita basis, but being left to the local rulers, though some Muslim commanders stressed the amount on the ability of the ruler to pay. The same wording can be seen in Ibn Amir's treaty.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA199|title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World|author=Idris El Hareir, Ravane Mbaye|page=199|publisher=[[UNESCO]]|isbn=9789231041532|year=2011}}</ref>

In 652, Ibn Amir sent al-Ahnaf to invade [[Tokharistan]] with 4,000 Arabs and 1,000 Iranian Muslims (evidently the Tamimis and asawira), probably because of assistance of its ruler to Yazdegerd's son [[Peroz III|Peroz]]. While Marw al-Rudh's garrison agreed to a peace term for the entire district under 300,000 dirhams, the town itself remained besieged.<ref name=Doryajee2/> It was the last major stronghold of Sasanians and fell to al-Ahnaf after a fierce battle.<ref name=Gibb/> After bloody fighting, its marzaban agreed to a peace treaty for 60,000 or 600,000 dirhams as well as a mutual defence pact. He was also allowed to keep his ancestral lands, for the office of marzaban to be hereditary in his family, and to be exempt from taxes along with his whole family.<ref name=Doryajee2/> Baladhuri quotes [[Abu Ubaidah (scholar)|Abu Ubayda]] as stating that the Turks were supporting the inhabitants of the town. These Turks were Hepthalites, probably from [[Guzgan]], which may explain the reason behind the Arabs next attacking Guzgan, [[Faryab]] and [[Taloqan|Talqan]].<ref name=Shaban22/>

[[Al-Mada'ini]] specifically states that Ahnaf while leading the next expedition, did not want to ask for assistance from the non-Muslims of Marw al-Rudh, probably as he did not trust them.<ref name=Shaban22/> The Arabs camped at Qasr al-Ahnaf, a day's march to the north of Marw al-Rudh. The 30,000-strong army comprising troops of Guzgan, Faryab and Talqan, supported by the [[Chaghaniyan|Chaghanian]] troops, advanced to meet them. The battle was inconclusive, but the opposing side dispersed with some remaining at Guzgan while the Arabs withdrew to Marw al-Rudh. Ahnaf sent an expedition, led by al-Aqra' b. Habis and apparently consisting exclusively of Tamimis, to Guzgan. The Arabs defeated Guzgan and entered it by force. Ahnaf meanwhile advanced towards Balkh, making peace treaties with Faryab and Taloqan along the way.<ref name=Shaban22>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_03AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA22|title=The 'Abbāsid Revolution|page=22|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author=M. A. Shaban|isbn=9780521295345|date=1979-03-08}}</ref>

The permanent pacification of Khorasan was a protracted affair with the local potentates often rebelling and appealing to outside powers like the Hepthalites, [[Western Turks]] or [[Turgesh]], [[Sogdians]] and the imperial Chinese who claimed a degree of suzerainty over Central Asia, for help.<ref name=Gibb/> Within a year after Yazdegerd's death, a local Iranian notable named Qarin started a revolt against the Arabs in Quhistan. He gathered his supporters from Tabasayn, Herat and Badghis, assembling a reported army of 40,000 insurgents against Arabs in Khorasan. The Arabs made a surprise attack however, killing him and many of his people while many others were taken captive.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&pg=PA26|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=26|author=Richard Nelson Frye|isbn=9780521200936|date=1975-06-26}}</ref> It was expected that the recently subjugated people would revolt. However, in Khorasan, no all-out effort seems to have been undertaken to the expel the Arabs after Qarin's rebellion. Chinese sources state that there was an attempt to restore Peroz by Tokharistan's army, however this episode is not confirmed by Arab sources.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_03AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA27|title=The Abbasid Revolution|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=27|author=M.A. Shaban|isbn=9780521295345|date=1979-03-08}}</ref>

Peroz had settled among the Turks, took a local wife and had received troops from the king of Tokharistan. In 661, he established himself as king of Po-szu (Persia) with Chinese help in a place the Chinese called Ja-ling (Chi-ling), which is assumed to be Zarang. His campaigns are reflected in Muslim sources, which mention revolts in Zarang, Balkh, Badghis, Herat, [[Bushanj]] and also in Khorasan during the [[First Fitna]] period in reigns of [[Ali]] and [[Mu'awiya I]]. Though they do not mention Peroz, they do state that Ali's newly appointed governor of Khorasan had heard in Nishapur that governors of the Sasanian king had come back from Kabul and Khorasan had rebelled. However, the region was reconquered under Mu'awiya. Piroz went back to the [[Tang Empire]]'s capital and was given a grandiose title as well as permission to build a fire temple in 677.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7k0hAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|title=The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=5, 6|author=Patricia Crone|author-link=Patricia Crone|isbn=9781139510769|date=2012-06-28}}</ref>

[[Yazid ibn al-Muhallab]] succeeded his father as governor of Khorasan in 702 and campaigned in Central Asia, but achieved little success apart from [[Nezak Tarkhan]]'s submission at Badghis.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jxd2Zr9Ilw8C&pg=PA219|title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History|author=Touraj Daryaee|page=219|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|author-link=Touraj Daryaee|isbn=9780199732159|date=2012-02-16}}</ref>