Afghanistan, being a poor and backward country, cannot provide subsistence to its population or provide a financial support for running the government.

The primary objective of Ahmad Shah Durrani's invasion of India is to plunder the subcontinent's wealth of gold and precious gems, and to enslave men, women, and children to sell in the markets of Central Asia.

A secondary objective is to establish political hegemony in India, as he is familiar with the weakness of the  Mughal administration in Delhi.

Crossed the Khyber Pass in December 1747 with forty thousand men, he begins by occupying Peshawar, the first military post in Indian beyond Afghanistan.

Durrani next reaches Shahdara Bagh, a suburb of Lahore, on January 11, 1748, and defeats Shahnawaz Khan and Adina the following day.

His forces sack and absorb Lahore.

Flushed with victory, Durrani commands his troops to march Delhi.

Ahmad Shah Durrani's army on its way to Delhi  is stopped at Manupur, fifteen kilometers northwest of Sirhind, by Mughal forces under Prince Ahmad Shah Bahadur.

The invaders' artillery store catches fire in the battle and roasts thousands of Durrani soldiers alive.

Ahmad Shah Durrani must therefore retreat at night.

The panicked Mughal forces do not chase them but the invaders are harassed by Sikh bands under Charat Singh and Baba Ala Singh, a Jat Sikh chieftain.

Sikhs loot their booty and horses while they are on the way back to Kabul.

The first invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani thus proves a failure, and has given an opportunity for the Sikhs to organize themselves into Dal Khalsa, an theocratic army, at Amritsar in March 1748.

Ahmad Shah Durrrani induces the Mughal ruler in 1749 to cede Sindh and all of the Punjab, including the vital trans Indus River, in order to save his capital from being attacked by the forces of the Durrani Empire.