Published Paper Details:

This article examines the Mughal Safavid conflict over Qandahar between 1595 and 1653, a prolonged contest that revealed how two early modern empires adapted their institutions, technologies and strategies to frontier war. Qandahar, situated at the crossroads of Iran, Central Asia and India was far more than a fortress. For the Mughals it was a defensive glacis protecting Kabul and Lahore. For the Safavids it was a patrimony unjustly alienated. Using chronicles, memoirs, travelogues and the work of modern scholars. This study argues that the conflict turned less on shared gunpowder technology than on divergent institutional frameworks, logistical capacities and styles of leadership. Mughal artillery and the Mansabdari system flourished in the plains of Hindustan but proved fragile in Afghanistan. Safavid reforms under Shah Abbas I and Shah Abbas II, though sustained by fewer resources created a disciplined army well suited to siege warfare and defence. By 1653 the fate of Qandahar was sealed in favour of Iran, illustrating the central role of geography, supply and cohesion in early modern imperial rivalry.