Arab sources indicate that at about his time, the Sogdian princes called upon the Western Turks or the Turgesh for help against the Arabs, although the chronology and veracity of these accounts is open to question.

In any case, over the next two years Qutayba will engage in an effort to push the Caliphate's borders further and gain control of the Jaxartes valley.

A large force, supported by some twenty thousand Transoxianian levies, marches into the valley in early 713.

The native levies are dispatched against Shash, which is reportedly taken, while Qutayba with the Arabs marched in the direction of Khujand and Ferghana.

Little is known of these expeditions, although successful battles are recorded before Khujand and at Minak in Ushrusana, and the dispatch of an Arab embassy to the Chinese court is verified by Chinese sources.

Al-Tabari reports that Qutayba marched into Chinese-held territory up to Kashgar, but this claim is dismissed by modern scholars.