Ahmed Shah Abdali was assisted by a prime minister and a council of nine life-term advisers that he selected from the chiefs of the top Afghan tribes. As head of the central government, he had complete control over all departments of state in domestic and foreign affairs, as well as both civil and military affairs. He established his capital at Kandahar, where coins bearing his name were produced, and was crowned there in 1747. <u>He began his campaign of invading areas ruled by ineffective leaders in India nine times between 1747 and 1769,</u> ostensibly with no intention of establishing an empire there. In 1757, he invaded Delhi unchallenged and then pillaged it, along with Agra, Mathura, and Vrindavan.
