About Ahmed Shah BaBa Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (c.1723–1773) (احمد شاه دراني), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (احمد شاه ابدالي) and born as Ahmad Khān Abdālī, was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded by many to be the founder of modern Afghanistan. After the assassination of Nader Shah Afshar, he became the Amir of Khorasan and later became the founder and ruler of his own Empire. Rallying Pashtun tribes and allies, he pushed east towards the Punjab in Mughal India and west towards the disintegrating Afsharid Empire. The Pashtuns of Afghanistan often call him Bābā ("father").