Azad, born in Andar town in the …

Years: 1752 - 1752
Azad, born in Andar town in the east of Ghazni, Afghanistan, into the Sulaimankhel clan of the Ghilji confederacy, had joined Nader Shah's army around 1738 and had taken part in his campaigns in India and Iran.

At the time of Nader's murder, he was second-in-command to Amir Aslan Khan Qerglu Afshar, the governor of Azerbaijan.

Azad had played a prominent role in the power struggle that followed the death of Nader, quickly defecting from Aslan Khan to Nader's nephew and would-be successor, Ebrahim Mirza, and earning for himself the title of khan.

When Ebrahim was himself defeated by Nader's grandson, Shahrukh Shah, Azad Khan had attached himself and his Afghan cavalry to Mīr Sayyed Moḥammad, the superintendent of the shrine at Mashhad, following whose orders he had withdrawn to the western marches of Iran.

Azad has continued to be involved in the unrest in Iran and, through a series of alliance with local Kurd and Turkish chieftains and a policy of compromise with the Georgian ruler Erekle II, Azad rises to control all the territory between Ardabil and Urmia by 1752.

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