the forces of habibullah, under his brother hamidullah, again show their superiority in the field by inflicting a decisive defeat at gandamak, near jalalabad, on mahmud hashim khan, a brother of nadir khan, who had collected a "lashkar" among the tribes of eastern afghanistan. this success, however, avails the amir but little. the constant fighting of the last four months has exhausted his resources, and his failure to open communications with india has prevented him from replenishing them. nadir khan, on the other hand, has strengthened his influence with the tribes, and at the beginning of october his army, under the command of his brother, shah wali khan, is in a position to commence an advance on kabul through the logar valley. the amir's troops meet them outside kabul on october 6 and suffer a decisive defeat, after which his resistance rapidly collapses. shah wali khan is at the gates of kabul on october 8, and two days later is in possession of the city. the amir holds out a few days longer in the arg (citadel), but this also is captured by bombardment on october 13.