Bolan Pass

Bolan Pass (Urdu) is a valley and a natural gateway through the Toba Kakar range in Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is situated 120 km (75 miles) south of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The pass is an 89 km (55 miles) stretch of the Bolan River valley from Rindli in the south to Darwāza near Kolpur in the north. It is made up of a number of narrow gorges and stretches. It connects Quetta with Sibi by road and railway. Being strategically located, it has also been used by traders, invaders, and nomadic tribes as a gateway to and from South Asia. The Bolān Pass is an important pass on the Baluch frontier, connecting Jacobabad and Jhang with Multan, which has always occupied an important place in the history of British campaigns in Afghanistan. The local population south of the pass predominantly consists of Brahvi tribes, who extend from Bolan Pass to Cape Monze on the Arabian Sea. The ethnic group north of the pass consists of mainly Pashtuns, while to west, Balochis. The Bolan Pass is in the Toba Kakar range which lies south of the Hindu Kush mountain ranges. Bolan Pass is described as a pass over a lofty range that is full of ravines and gorges. The mountain ranges of the Bolan pass are the southern geographic border between the Indian Plate and the Iranian plateau. The southern point of the pass, near Dhadar, is the western bound of the Indus Valley and is seen as a great strategic point between Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and the Arabian Sea. The Bolan pass is the southern counterpart of the Khyber Pass. Both ranges have been used throughout history for invasions of the Indian subcontinent. In 1748, the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India by using the Bolan Pass in addition to the traditional Khyber Pass route. The Durrani capital Qandahar was located nearby the pass which gave quick access to Indian lands. In 1837, threatened by a possible Russian invasion of South Asia via the Khyber and Bolān Passes, a British envoy was sent to Kabul to gain support of the Emir, Dost Mohammed. In February 1839, during the First Anglo-Afghan War, the British Army under Sir John Keane took 12,000 men through the Bolān Pass and entered Qandahar

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