Khyber Pass (kī`bər), narrow, steep-sided pass, 28 mi (45 km) long, winding through the Safed Koh Mts., on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; highest point is 3,500 ft (1,067 m). The routes through it link the cities of Peshawar, Pakistan, and Kabul, Afghanistan. For centuries a trade and invasion route from central Asia, the Khyber Pass was one of the principal approaches of the armies of Alexander the Great Alexander the Great or Alexander III, 356–323 B.C., king of Macedon, conqueror of much of Asia.

Youth and Kingship

..... Click the link for more information. , Timur Timur (tĭm
..... Click the link for more information. , Babur Babur (bä`bər) [Turk.,=lion], 1483–1530, founder of the Mughal empire of India. His full name was Zahir ud-Din Muhammad.
..... Click the link for more information. , Mahmud of Ghazna Mahmud of Ghazna (mäm
..... Click the link for more information. , and Nadir Shah Nadir Shah or Nader Shah (both: nä`dēr shä)
..... Click the link for more information. in their invasions of India. The pass was also important in the Afghan Wars fought by the British in the 19th cent. The Khyber Pass is now traversed by an asphalt road and an old caravan route. A railroad (built 1920–25), which passes through 34 tunnels and over 92 bridges and culverts, runs to the Afghan border. Pakistan controls the entire pass.

Khyber Pass

Pass in the Spin Ghar (Safid Kuh) Range on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. About 33 mi (53 km) long, it has historically been the gateway for invasions of the Indian subcontinent from the northwest; it was traversed by Persians, Greeks, Mughals, and Afghans from the north and by the British from the south. The Pashtun Afridi people of the Khyber area long resisted foreign control, but during the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879, the Khyber tribes came under British rule. It is now controlled by Pakistan.

Khyber Pass

a narrow pass over the Safed Koh Range between Afghanistan and Pakistan, over which came the Persian, Greek, Tatar, Mogul, and Afghan invasions of India; scene of bitter fighting between the British and Afghans (1838--42, 1878--80). Length: about 53 km (33 miles). Highest point: 1072 m (3518 ft.)