After the death of Timur in 1793, his fifth son, Zaman, seized the throne with the help of Sardar Payenda Khan, a chief of the Barakzay. Zaman then turned to India with the object of repeating the exploits of Ahmad Shah. This alarmed the British, who induced Fath 'Ali Shah of Persia to bring pressure upon the Afghan king and divert his attention from India. The shah went a step further, helping Mahmud, governor of Herat and a brother of Zaman, with men and money and encouraging him to advance on Qandahar. Mahmud, assisted by his vizier, Fath Khan Barakzay, eldest son of Sardar Payenda Khan, and by Fath 'Ali Shah, took Qandahar and advanced on Kabul. Zaman, in India, hurried back to Afghanistan. There he was handed over to Mahmud, blinded, and imprisoned (1800). The Durrani Empire had begun to disintegrate after 1798, when Zaman Shah appointed a Sikh, Ranjit Singh, as governor of Lahore