Khyber Pass

Along Asian Highway 1 (AH1), the summit of the pass at Landi Kotal lies inside Pakistan, descending into the Peshawar Valley at Jamrud, about from the Afghan border, traversing part of the Spin Ghar mountains. The pass starts at Kadam near Jamrud, west of Peshawar. The total length of the pass proper is from Jamrud to Landi Kotal, although the lesser section of the pass runs for additional westwards until the town of Lōya Daka, in Afghanistan. To the north of the Khyber Pass lies the country of the Shalmani tribe and Mullagori tribe. To the south is Afridi Tirah, while the inhabitants of villages in the Pass itself are Afridi clansmen. Throughout the centuries, Pashtun clans, particularly the Afridis and the Afghan Shinwari, have regarded the Pass as their own preserve and have levied a toll on travellers for safe conduct. Since this has long been their main source of income, resistance to challenges to the Shinwari's authority has often been fierce. ==Ancient history==

in 1848 posing at Jamrud Fort at the mouth of the Khyber Pass in 1878 's elephant battery of heavy artillery along the Khyber Pass at Campbellpur, 1895 A number of historical invasions of the Indian subcontinent have been through the Khyber Pass, such as those of Darius I, Ardashir I, Shapur I and Anushirvan, The pass has been traversed by military expeditions launched by empires such as the Achaemenids and Sassanids, as well as by nomadic invaders from Central Asia, including the Saka, Yuezhi, and White Huns. The Parthian Empire fought for control of passes such as this to profit from the trade in silk, jade, rhubarb, and other luxuries moving from China to Western Asia and Europe. Through the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (in present-day Pakistan) became a regional center of trade connecting Bagram in Afghanistan to Taxila in India, adding Indian luxury goods such as ivory, pepper, and textiles to the Silk Road commerce. == Islamic period ==

During the Islamic period, Muslim rulers, including Mahmud Ghaznavi, Muhammad of Ghor, Timur, Babur, and Nader Shah used the Khyber and nearby passes for their invasions of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughals attempted to control the pass but faced resistance from local tribes. Ahmad Shah Durrani was the last major Islamic conqueror to cross the pass, though his successors' campaigns had limited lasting impact. == British rule ==

In the 19th century, the British East India Company (EIC) aimed to secure the Khyber Pass from Russia as part of the Great Game. During World War II, concrete dragon's teeth were erected on the valley floor due to British fears of an invasion of India by the Axis powers. == Post-1947 ==

, the entrance gate of the Khyber Pass Following the partition of India in 1947, the Khyber Pass became part of Pakistan. Passenger services through the pass have been intermittent, with the Khyber Steam Safari, a joint venture between a private company and Pakistan Railways, operating in the 1990s. This increasingly unstable situation in northwest Pakistan, where the US accused Pakistan of hosting the Taliban, made the US and NATO broaden supply routes, through Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Even the option of supplying material through the Iranian far southeastern port of Chabahar was considered. In 2010 NATO forces executed a helicopter attack across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and killed three Pakistani soldiers in an airstrike. In response, Pakistan closed the pass to NATO supply trucks, causing a convoy of NATO trucks to queue at the closed border. This convoy was attacked by insurgents, who destroyed more than 29 oil tankers and trucks, and killed several soldiers. A probe later found that the Americans had mistakenly concluded that the Pakistani soldiers, who had fired warning shots at the helicopters, were insurgents. That led to apologies from the coalition forces in Afghanistan and top NATO and U.S. officials. ==Cultural references==

A number of locations around the world have been named after the Khyber Pass: • A steep and twisting minor road in Mugdock Country Park near Glasgow, Scotland. The road is a landmark along the West Highland Way and is popular among local road cyclists. • A suburb of Civil Lines, Delhi, India. • Khyber Pass Road, a major road in the suburb of Newmarket, Auckland, New Zealand (Google Earth view) • An artificial rockwork feature at East Park, Kingston upon Hull, UK. • Khyber Road in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland. • A steep and twisting road up the West Cliff at Whitby, UK. • A pedestrian alley in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland • Khyber Pass Pub in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. • The Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa in Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir. • A mountain bike trail connecting the Top of the World trail at Whistler, British Columbia to the Whistler Creekside Village. • A subway in the King's Cross St Pancras tube station. After the King's Cross fire in November 1987, it was replaced. Other references include the following: • The bus journey on this road was belle-lettered very beautifully, and a part of its first act, in the selective memoir Deshe Bideshe (1948) by Syed Mujtaba Ali. • Before the partition of India, the pass was mentioned as part of common Hindustani phrase used to describe the length of colonial India, "Khyber sé Kanyakumari". as "the Pass" in "Arithmetic on the Frontier", • In the 2023 movie Ghosted, a farmer played by Chris Evans, is abducted to the Khyber Pass and rescued by a CIA operative played by Ana de Armas, as shown by the location card at 35'15", although the film was actually filmed in New Mexico. • The Belleville boot company has an 8-inch combat boot line named Khyber. ==See also==