Most serious Afghan feuds tend to involve close blood-relations, and the “usurper” in this case was Shah Shuja’s estranged half-brother, Shah Mahmoud. When he refused to punish the overmighty Qizilbash who made up both his bodyguard and administrative elite, outraged Sunni tribesmen poured into Kabul from the surrounding hills and besieged the walled Qizilbash compound.
