The Khyber Pass connects Pakistan with Afghanistan, spanning 33 miles through the Hindu Kush mountain range. It has a maximum elevation of 3,500 feet and is inhabited by Pathans. It has been used throughout history for invasions and migrations, including by Alexander the Great and the British.
Khyber Pass is the pass that connects Pakistan with Afghanistan. It is approximately 33 miles (53km) long, traveling through the Hindu Kush mountain range. The pass reaches a maximum elevation of about 3,500 feet (1050 m), right on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Once in the pass, it’s incredibly difficult to climb the mountains from either side. In some rare places the walls become climbable, but generally they are sheer cliffs ranging from 575 feet (175 m) to 1000 feet (300 m). At its widest point the pass is about 450 feet (135 m) wide, and at its thinnest point it is only 10 feet (3 m) wide. Despite this, currently two highways pass through the pass linking Peshawar with Kabul. One motorway is used for traditional caravan traffic, while a second is used for modern motor vehicles.
The Khyber Pass is inhabited by the Pathans, a group of Pushtu-speaking tribes. Pakistan nominally controls the pass, but it is actually administered by the Pathans. Pathans are very traditional and are known to be very fierce fighters.
This pass is probably the most important in history, with countless invasions and migrations using it to cross the Hindu Kush. Some historians believe it was used by the Indo-Aryans during their journey into India around 1500 BC This would make them the first major invasion of the Indian subcontinent to have used the pass.
Later in the 6th century BC Darius the Great led his Persians across the Khyber Pass to expand the Archemenian Empire into India. Two centuries later, Alexander the Great followed in the footsteps of Darius by leading his army into India through the pass, but only after bribing the local Pathan chieftains to allow him free passage. The Huns, the Scythians, the Afghans, all used the pass during their various conquests.
In the 10th century Islam made its way into India through the Khyber Pass. Subuktagin began his invasion of parts of India through this pass, and his son later used the pass nearly twenty times in his campaigns. In the 16th century Zahirurddin Babur led his army through it, using it to establish the mighty Mughal empire in India, cementing Islam’s place as a major religion in the subcontinent.
When the British took over India, they watched the Khyber Pass with great concern. It was through the Khyber Pass that they feared a Russian invasion and for many years the British attempted to take control of the pass from the Pathans. During the First Afghan War the British suffered huge losses against the Pathans, before recruiting the tribes to fight the British army.
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