Durrani Empire, Durrani Emirate (Pashto: د درانیانو واکمني, also referred to as the Afghan Empire) was a Pashtun dynasty centered in Afghanistan and included northeastern Iran, the Kashmir region, the modern state of Pakistan, and northwestern India. It was established at Kandahar in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander under Nader Shah of Persia and chief of the Abdali tribe. After the death of Ahmad Shah in about 1773, the Emirship was passed onto his children followed by grandchildren and its capital was shifted to Kabul, while Peshawar was used as the winter capital. Ahmad Shah and his descendants were from the Sadozai line of the Abdalis (later called Durranis), making them the second Pashtun rulers of Kandahar, after the Ghilzai Hotakis.

With the support of tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani extended Afghan control from Meshed to Kashmir and Delhi, from the Amu Darya to the Arabian Sea. The Durrani's were a very notable Emirate in the second half of the eighteenth century mainly due to the leadership of Ahmad Shah Durrani. The Durrani Empire is considered the foundation of the current state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad Shah Durrani being credited as "Father" of Afghanistan. Even before the death of Nader Shah of Persia in 1747, tribes around the Hindu Kush region had been growing stronger and were beginning to take advantage of the waning power of their distant rulers.

Durrani (Pashto: دراني) or Abdali (Pashto: ابدالی) is the name of a chief Pashtun tribal confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Originally known by their ancient name Abdali later as Durrani they have been called Durrani since the beginning of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The number of Durranis are estimated to be roughly 16% of the population of Afghanistan or 5 million individuals. Durrani are found throughout Afghanistan, although large concentrations are found in the South, they are also found to less extent in East, West and Central Afghanistan. They are also found in large numbers in Pakistan, mainly inhabiting the Western area of the nation. The Durrani Pashtuns of Afghanistan are usually bilingual in Pashto and Persian while those of Pakistan in Pashto and Urdu.

The Durranis have been prominent leaders, as the royal family of Afghanistan is derived from this tribe, and a substantial number of Durrani Pashtuns are bureaucrats and public officials, as well as businessmen, wealthy merchants and hold high ranks in the military.

Ahmad Shah Durrani (c. 1722–1773) (Pashto/Persian: احمد شاه درانی‎), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (Pashto/Persian: احمد شاه ابدالي) and born as Ahmad Khān, was 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 enlisted as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid kingdom and quickly rose to become a commander of four thousand Abdali Pashtun soldiers. After the death of Nader Shah Afshar of Persia in June 1747, Abdali became the Emir of Khorasan. Rallying his Pashtun tribes and allies, he pushed 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 had conquered all of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan, including much of northeastern Iran and the Punjab region in the Indian subcontinent. He decisively defeated the Marathas at the 1761 Battle of Panipat which was fought north of Delhi in India.

Gul Agha Sherzai (Pashto: ګل آغا شيرزی) is the current Governor of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. He previously served as Governor of Kandahar province, in the early 1990s and from 2001 until 2003.

Gul Agha was born by the name of Shafiq to a poor tea shop owner, who later became a famous Mujahideen commander, Haji Abdul Latif. He took the name Gul Agha when he joined his father in the Mujahideen, who were fighting against the Soviet invasion. His father was murdered and he added Sherzai (Pashto for "son of lion") as his last name. He is an ethnic Pashtun Barakzai from Kandahar. Haji Abdul Latif was also known as Haji Latif "Sagwan", ("Sagwan" means "dog owner" and was a famous dog fights leader in the Kandahar area. After the collapse of the PDPA government in 1991, Gul Agha served as Governor of Kandahar from 1992 until 1994.

His capture of Kandahar city in late 2001, with assistance from American special forces and airstrikes, marked the first time territory in southern Afghanistan had been captured from the Taliban.

Zareen Khan (born 14 May 1984) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Bollywood films. She made her acting debut in the 2010 period film Veer co-starring with Salman Khan. Khan has been noted for looks very similar to actress Katrina Kaif. Her recent Bollywood release, Housefull 2, has become a huge commercial success, as it was elevated to super hit status by Box Office India. Khan has also garnered recognition from her item number, Character Dheela, in the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 2011, Ready.

Khan was born to a Muslim, Pathan family, in Mumbai, on 14 May 1984. She speaks fluent Hindi, Urdu and Marathi. In college she weighed almost 100 kg (220 lb). Although she never planned to be a model, she began to focus on losing weight and getting into shape. In order to lose weight, she began to work out, eventually reaching her target weight. With no marketable skills, she tried her hand at modeling. Khan did a number of small assignments.

Khan's acting career began while visiting the set of Yuvraj at Subhash Ghai's film school Whistling Woods. Salman Khan noticed her and decided to cast her for his film Veer because, he said, "She looks the character — the sweet princess she is playing in Veer". After a screen test, Khan was given the role of Princess Yashodhara. She gained eight kilograms in order to be more convincing as a 19th century princess. Because of Veer's poor box office performance, Khan at first had trouble finding roles in big-budget films. In 2011, she made a cameo appearance in Anees Bazmee's Ready, parodying characters from Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay and Shri 420. She has also acted in her first major hit 2012 film Housefull 2 which is a blockbuster hit and she is also playing a role in the upcoming film Partner 2.