How did the Sikhs establish dominance in Punjab by the 1760s?

By the 1760s, the Sikhs established dominance in the Punjab primarily by exploiting the decline of Mughal authority and successfully resisting the repeated invasions of the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani.12

Following the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716, the Sikhs endured decades of persecution but increasingly organized themselves into warrior bands known as misls (or misals). These misls and their sardars (chieftains) gradually consolidated authority over extensive rural areas as Mughal control weakened.23

During the 1750s and 1760s, the Sikhs emerged as the primary opposition to Afghan incursions. Despite suffering heavy casualties in these sanguinary engagements, the Sikhs prevented the Afghans from consolidating their gains. By the mid-1760s, they had established authority over Lahore, and by the end of the decade, the Punjab was largely under the control of 12 distinct misls. Once the external Afghan threat was removed, these chiefdoms—which included states like Patiala and Nabha—functioned as a confederation, often uniting to present a common front against adversaries.12