Saffarids and Their Strategy for Spread of Islam in Afghanistan

One of the most important aspects of early Saffarid policy, of significance for the spread of Islam in Afghanistan and on the borders of India long after their empire had collapsed, was that of expansion into eastern Afghanistan. The early Arab governors of Sistan had at times penetrated as far as Ghazna and Kabul, but these had been little more than slave and plunder raids. There was fierce resistance from the local rulers of these regions, above all from the line of Zunbils who ruled in Zamindavar and Zabulistan and who were probably epigoni of the southern Hephthalite or Chionite kingdom of Zabul; on more than one occasion, these Zunblls inflicted sharp defeats on the Muslims. The Zunblls were linked with the Kabul-Shahs of the Turk-Shahi dynasty; the whole Kabul river valley was at this time culturally and religiously an outpost of the Indian world, as of course it had been in earlier centuries during the heyday of the Buddhist Gandhara civilization. When he had finally disposed of Salih b. al-Nadir, Ya'qub had captured several members of the family of the Zunbll, Salih's ally. In 255/869 the Zunbil's son escaped from captivity in Bust and speedily raised an army in al-Rukhkhaj, an indication of his dynasty's popularity and deep roots there. He was forced to flee to the Kabul-Shah, but Ya'qub was unable to pursue him northwards because of the onset of winter. The Arabic sources refer to the Zunbll - whether to the man whom Ya'qub killed in 251/865 or to his son is unclear - not under this title or designation, but under what was apparently his personal name of Firuz b. Kabk. A raid on Zabulistan from Balkh in the north by Da'ud b. al-'Abbas, of the Abu Da'udids of Khuttal, is mentioned in the middle years of the century, and Mas'udi speaks with wonder of the impregnability of Firuz b. Kabk's fortresses in Zabulistan. Ya'qub made a further raid into eastern Afghanistan in 256/870, aiming at Kabul, where the Zunbll's son had fled for refuge. He marched through Panjway and Tiglnabad in Zamindavar; captured Ghazna and destroyed its citadel; and levied a tribute of 10,000 dirhams per annum on the local ruler of Gardiz, Abu Mansur Aflah. He turned northwards to Bamiyan and then Balkh, where he destroyed the palace of Da'ud b. al-'Abbas, who had fled before him. These conquests in the Hindu Kush region gave Ya'qub control of the Panjhir river valley and the silver mines of the Andaraba district; the first Saffarid coins extant were minted by Ya'qub at Panjhir between 259/873 and 261/875, but after this, possession of Panjhir reverted to the Abu Da'udids or Banijurids. Kabul was also taken, and according to Gardizi here "Firuz" (sc. the Zunbil's son) was captured.