Ahmad Shah Durrani (c. 1722–1773) , also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī and born as Ahmad Khān, is the founder of the Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire) in 1747 and is regarded by many to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan.

Ahmad Khan enlists as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid kingdom and quickly rises to become a commander of four thousand Abdali Pashtun soldiers.

After the death of Nader Shah Afshar of Persia in June 1747, Abdali becomes the Emir of Khorasan.

Rallying his Pashtun tribes and allies, he pushes east towards the Mughal and the Maratha Empire of India as well as west towards the disintegrating Afsharid Empire of Persia and north toward the Khanate of Bukhara.

Within a few years he has conquered all of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan, including much of northeastern Iran and the Punjab region in the Indian subcontinent.

He decisively defeats the Marathas at the 1761 Battle of Panipat, which is fought north of Delhi in India.

After his natural death in 1772-73, his son Timur Shah takes control of the empire.

Ahmad Shah's mausoleum is located at Kandahar, Afghanistan, adjacent to the famous Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed in the center of the city.

The Afghans often refer to him as Ahmad Shah Bābā (Ahmad Shah the "Father").