Khyber

Khyber, commonly referred to as the Khyber Pass, is a historic mountain pass through the Hindu Kush that lies on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It connects the Peshawar Basin in Pakistan with the Jalalabad region in Afghanistan and is located within what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the Pakistani side. The pass has long served as a major corridor for trade, travel, and military movements between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.

Historically, the Khyber Pass has been a key route for merchants and armies for centuries. It facilitated the movement of goods and ideas and featured in various campaigns that shaped the region’s history, including campaigns of ancient empires and later colonial-era frontier policy. In the 19th and 20th centuries, infrastructure projects, including roads and the Khyber Pass Railway, were developed to improve access and logistics.

In modern Pakistan, the surrounding region is part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The area was formerly known as the Khyber Agency, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, before the 2018 reforms that merged FATA into the province. The pass area includes notable locations such as Landi Kotal and the Torkham border crossing, a major cross-border point with Afghanistan.

The name Khyber is also used to refer to the broader region around the pass. Today, the Khyber Pass remains a symbol of cross-border movement and strategic significance in the history and politics of the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier.