In 1709, Mir Wais Khan, a Ghilzai Pashtun and founder of the short-lived Hotaki Dynasty (1709-38), and leader of the Afghan tribal revolt against Persian domination that led to the foundation of modern Afghanistan. He was a Ghilzai chief who lived as a hostage at the court of the Safavid ruler in Esfahan while Kandahar was ruled by Gorgin Khan, a Georgian governor. A leader of the Hotaki Ghilzai tribe, successfully led an uprising against Gurgin Khan , the Safavid who had been brutally suppressing the tribe. Mir Wais's political tactics illustrate an important division among the Afghan people and among Muslims as a whole. The Safavid Persians were Shiite Muslims, while Mir Wais was a pure Sunni Muslim.

When Mir Wais made his pilgrimage to Mecca, he secured a fatwa, a religious statement, which proclaimed that a Sunni revolt against a heretical Shiite rule was a righteous act. Upon his return to Kandahar he used the fatwa to win the support of tribal chieftains and, in 1709, staged a successful revolt against Gorgin Khan's troops. Mir Wais and his Afghan forces defeated all attempts by the Safavid armies to recapture Kandahar and laid the basis for the Afghan invasion of Persia and the defeat of the Safavids at Gulnabad in 1722.

Mir Wais never claimed he was king, but he took the title of Wakil, or governor. After the death of Mir Wais, his son, Mir Mahmud, seized power from his uncle, and attacked and overthrew the Safavid ruler. Mahmud turned out to be a cruel ruler, murdering thousands to strengthen his power and becoming mentally unbalanced. In 1725, Mahmud was murdered by his own army, and Ashraf, a young cousin, was put in power.

Ashraf beat back the Russians from the North and Ottoman Turks in the west. However, he was as cruel as his late cousin. An outlaw chief, Nadir Quli (later became the shah in Persia - now Iran), attacked and defeated Ashraf. Ashraf was murdered, probably, on orders from a cousin.