Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass is the northernmost strategically important mountain pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan, connecting Kabul with the historic Pakistani region of Peshawar. The pass is 56 kilometers long and some parts of it reach over 914 meters in elevation. Most of the pass can be more correctly described as a gorge formed by two rivers. Contained by sheer cliffs made mostly of limestone, the pass becomes a narrow defile as one approaches the Afghani border. A number of villages and old forts are perched on the rocks along the pass.
Traditionally, the Khyber Pass was both a crucial trading and invasion route. Persian and Macedonian armies probably followed the route in antiquity. Most recently, the pass was used and fought over by the British in the nineteenth century and the Soviet invasion forces in the 1980s.
The pass's value for trade is indicated by the presence of several market towns on the cliffs overlooking its winding road. The largest, Landi Kotal, is situated on the highest point in the pass (elevation 963 meters), where a powerful fort once stood. The pass had been used as a caravan route for thousands of years, helping tie Central Asian commercial centers of Bukhara, Samarqand, Merv (now Mary), and others with the prosperous marketplaces of the Indian subcontinent. In the fifth century BCE King Darius of Persia marched his huge army through the pass to the Indus River, probably enlarging it in the process. Future conquerors from Alexander the Great to Babur also passed through this road. In 1925 a railway was opened through the pass, featuring thirty-four tunnels and ninety-four bridges and culverts, increasing its commercial importance. There is also a fairly good hard-surface road in the pass. Today the Pakistani Khyber Agency has the authority over the pass, at least its Pakistani sector.
Further Reading
"Khyber Pass." (2001) In Afghanpedia. Retrieved 27 December 2001, from: http://www.spinghar.com/afghanpedia.
Hopkirk, Peter. (1994) The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Kodansha International.
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