Tang-e Gharu, also known as Tang-e Gharo (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

: تنگ غارو), is a gorge and a mountain pass in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

mountain range of

Kabul Province Kabul (Persian: ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is also Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The Kabul River passes through the gorge, flowing eastward. The

Kabul–Jalalabad Road The Kabul–Jalalabad Road, also known as National Highway 08 (NH08), is a highway running between the Afghan cities of Kabul (the national capital) and Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan and capital of Nangarhar Province. A p ...

runs through the gorge, parallel to the river. Construction on the road began in the 1940s and was completed in the 1960s replacing the ancient

Lataband Pass The Lataband Pass or Kotal-e Latah Band, in pashto کوتل لته بند, (elevation: ) is a mountain pass connecting Kabul and Jalalabad on the way to Pakistan in the Karkacha hills between Seh Baba and Butkhak in the Hindukush Range. The name, ...

mountain pass. Both the pass and the road are considered to be of major strategic importance, as they provide a connection to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Due to heavy usage during recent conflicts in Afghanistan and frequent traffic accidents, the pass and the surrounding areas have become heavily damaged and periodically closed off.

Geology

The cliffs of Tang-e Gharu gorge are a blue-grey

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, which was formed some 250 million years ago. However, the gorge itself is only about 2 million years old and was formed as a combination of water

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

from the river and the collapse of an underground river channel.

References

Mountain passes of the Hindu Kush Afghanistan–Soviet Union relations Pakistan–Soviet Union relations {{Kabul-geo-stub