The Rashīdī History 7.4.6

7.4.6

During the periods that the Dughlat Amirs and Moghul Khans held sway, we hear of expeditions being sent to overrun Badakhshan, Ladak, and other weak States, but these were evidently undertaken by foreign rulers with their foreign troops, and not by the people of the country; indeed, we come much more frequently upon records of invasions which they themselves underwent at the hands of various enemies, such as the Arabs, the Mongols, the Kara Khitai, and even the Kalmaks. In the raids of the Moghuls into Western Turkistan and Mavara-un-Nahr, in their wars with Timur and Ulugh Beg, and their long campaigns with the Uzbegs, it is probable that the natives of Alti-Shahr took little part, for they are never mentioned as combatants. They had, in short (and have still), all the attributes of a lowland and unwarlike people, whose wealth excites the cupidity of aggressive neighbours, but the nature of whose country and customs prevent them from becoming themselves aggressive. It would be interesting to learn what the armies were composed of, that invaded, in the reigns of Aba Bakr and Sultan Said, Badakhshan, Chitral, etc., Ladak, Tibet and Kashmir. In all likelihood the numbers were very small — to be counted in some instances by hundreds rather than by thousands — while most of the men were probably mercenaries from countries other than Alti-Shahr. Mirza Haidar nowhere specifies the races which furnished the rank and file of these forces.