Torkham (; ps, , translit=tūrxam) is a major
border crossing
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
between the
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 ...
i city of
Torkham
Torkham (; ps, , translit=tūrxam) is a major border crossing between the Pakistani city of Torkham and Afghanistan, located along the Grand Trunk Road on the international border between the two countries. It connects Nangarhar province of A ...
and
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 ...
, located along the
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...
on the international border between the two countries. It connects
Nangarhar province of Afghanistan with Pakistan's
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
province. It is the busiest
port of entry
In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...
between the two countries, serving as a major transporting, shipping, and receiving site.
[
]
Highway 7 connects Torkham to
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
through
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
.
[
] On the Pakistani side, the border crossing is at the end of the
N-5 National Highway
The N-5 or National Highway 5 (Urdu: ) is a 1819 km national highway in Pakistan, which extends from Karachi in Sindh to Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Route
The N-5 is the longest national highway in Pakistan and serves as an import ...
, which connects it to
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
in the east via the
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing pa ...
and further connects it to
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
by other routes.
The
Afghan Border Police
The Afghan Border Force (ABF) was responsible for security of Afghanistan's border area with neighboring countries extending up to into the interior and formed part of the Afghan National Army. In December 2017, most of the Afghan Border Police ...
and Pakistan's
Frontier Corps
The Frontier Corps ( ur, , reporting name: FC), are a group of paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's ...
are the main agencies for controlling Torkham. They are backed by the
Pakistani and
Afghan Armed Forces
("The land belongs to Allah, the rule belongs to Allah")
, founded = 1997
, current_form =
, branches =
* Afghan Army
* Afghan Air Force
, headquarters = Kabul
, website =
, commander-in-chi ...
. Torkham belongs to the Momand Dara district of Nangarhar.
On 15 August 2021, Torkham was seized by
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
fighters, becoming the second border crossing with Pakistan to be captured by Taliban as part of wider
2021 Taliban offensive
A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...
. As a response, Pakistan temporarily closed the border crossing.
History
The location has been used throughout history by
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
and
Turkic caravans, including marching armies of powerful empires. Most of these were on their way to
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
, passing through Peshawar and then
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
. Some of the well known regional historical figures who are believed to have passed through Torkham are
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...
,
Hsüan-tsang,
Jayapala
Jayapala or Jaipal was a ruler of the Hindu Shahi dynasty from 964 to 1001 CE.
His kingdom stretched from Laghman to Kashmir and Sirhind to Multan, with Peshawar being in the center. He was the son of Hutpal and the father of Anandapala. Epit ...
,
Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
,
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
,
Babur
Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...
,
Humayun
Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern ...
,
Nader Shah
Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian h ...
,
Ahmad Shah Durrani
Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...
,
Zaman Shah Durrani
Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali ( Persian: ; 1767 – 1844), was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. An ethnic Pashtun, Zaman Shah became the ...
,
Dost Mohammad Khan
Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/Persian: ; 23 December 17929 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, Also titled Amir al-Mu'minin, was a member of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of the Emirate of Afghanistan. His 37-year ...
, and
Akbar Khan.
Over much of the last century, there have been proposals to extend the (defunct)
Khyber rail service to Afghanistan and possibly beyond, passing through
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
. In 2010, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a
Memorandum of understanding (MoU) for going ahead with the laying of
rail tracks
A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...
between the two countries. Work on the proposed project was supposed to start in 2010.
In November 2001 the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that Torkham is
Hajji Ali's hometown. Ali was an anti-Taliban militia leader who seized power after the Taliban retreated.
[
] It was reported that Hajji Ali had joined forces with two other militia leaders,
Mawlawi Yunis Khalis, and
Ezatullah, to set up a regional provisional government.
On the Pakistani side, Torkham lies at the end of the
N-5 National Highway
The N-5 or National Highway 5 (Urdu: ) is a 1819 km national highway in Pakistan, which extends from Karachi in Sindh to Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Route
The N-5 is the longest national highway in Pakistan and serves as an import ...
. It is connected to city of
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
in the east. Transported goods arrive to Torkham from the port city of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
in
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
province. Torkham is west of the summit of the
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing pa ...
. It lies on the most important supply route for
US-led
NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan's government sometimes block supplies due to the American use of
drone strikes in Pakistan
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence ...
.
In April 2006 the
Afghan Border Police
The Afghan Border Force (ABF) was responsible for security of Afghanistan's border area with neighboring countries extending up to into the interior and formed part of the Afghan National Army. In December 2017, most of the Afghan Border Police ...
began requiring travelers crossing the border at Torkham to possess valid travel documents.
[
]
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 ...
has completed the construction of border gate, crossing terminal and other associated infrastructure on its side of Torkham border by July 2016. Border gate has been named as Bab-i-Pakistan and the crossing terminal has been named "Shaheed Major Ali Jawad Changezi terminal" after the officer lost his life in skirmishes against the Afghan security forces at the same border and in the clashes that resulted from the construction of this very gate. The flag hosting ceremony has also started just like the one at Wagah border crossing with India. Now no one will be allowed to cross border without proper documentations to check the infiltration of terrorists from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Work on the construction of the gate and associated facilities began in 2014 but kept getting delayed because of Afghan reservations and abrupt clashes. Pakistan plans to have similar border control measures at all six major crossing points between the two countries on the 2,600 km-long porous border.
Climate
With an influence from the local steppe climate, Torkham features a hot semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
(Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''BSh''). The average temperature in Torkham is 20.3 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 407 mm. June is the driest month with an average rainfall of 8 mm, while the wettest month is March, with an average 82 mm of precipitation.
June is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 31.0 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 8.4 °C.
Gallery
File:Torkham gate, Afghan, Pakistan border.jpg, US soldier on the Afghan side of border in 2007
File:Torkham in March 2010.jpg, Combined Joint Task Force 82nd Soldiers and logistics units walk the Torkham border crossing area with CENTCOM Deployment and Distribution Operations Center Director, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert McMahon, March 25, 2010, Torkham, Afghanistan.
File:McMahon at Torkham in 2010.jpg, Combined Joint Task Force 82nd Soldiers and logistics units walk the Torkham border crossing area with CENTCOM Deployment and Distribution Operations Center Director, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert McMahon, March 25, 2010, Torkham border, Afghan side.
File:Trucks crossing into Kyber Pakhtunkhwa at Torkham.jpg, Trucks crossing into Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Torkham in 2011
File:Afghanistan's entry point at Torkham-2.jpg, Afghanistan's entry point at Torkham
File:Inside the Afghan customs and border patrol station at Torkham.jpg, Inside the Afghan customs and border patrol station at Torkham
See also
* Demogan
* Durand Line
The Durand Line ( ps, د ډیورنډ کرښه; ur, ), forms the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, a international land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to th ...
* Ghulam Khan
Ghulām Khān (Pashto/) is a town in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Ghulam Khan is on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is the third most important border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan, after Chama ...
* Hairatan
Hairatan ( prs, حیرتان; ps, حیراتان; Uzbek Cyrillic: Ҳайратон, Uzbek Latin: Hayraton) is a border town in northern Balkh Province of Afghanistan. The Hairatan dry port and border checkpoint is located in the eastern section ...
* Islam Qala
Islām Qala (Persian/Pashto: اسلام قلعه, also ''Eslām Qalʿeh''), known historically as Kafir Qala, is a border town in the western Herat province of Afghanistan, near the Afghanistan–Iran border. It is the official entry by land from n ...
* Khyber train safari
The Khyber train safari ( ur, , ps, د خیبر تپ صفري) is a defunct tourist train that was operated and maintained by Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan Railways between Peshawar and Attock Khurd. The trip took ...
* Landi Khana railway station
* Landi Kotal
Lanḍī Kōtal ( ps, لنډي کوتل, ur, ) or Lwargai ( ps, لواړګی ''Lwāṛgai'') is a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, and the administrative capital of Khyber District. It was one of the largest towns in the form ...
* Sher Khan Bandar
Sher Khan or Shir Khan ( ps, شیر خان بندر; prs, شیرخان بندر) is a border town in the northern Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, next to the Panj River. The town's main attraction is the Sher Khan Bandar, which is a dry port and ...
* Spin Boldak
Spin Boldak ( ps, سپین بولدک) is a border town and the headquarters of Spin Boldak District in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, next to the border with Pakistan. It is linked by a highway with the city of Kandahar to the n ...
* Torghundi
Torghundi, also spelled Turghundi or Towrgondi ( ps, تورغونډۍ, translit=Tōrghūnḍəi, tk, Torghundi), is a border town in northern Herat Province of Afghanistan. The town's main attraction is the Torghundi custom house and border che ...
* Zaranj
Zaranj or Zarang (Persian/Pashto/ bal, زرنج) is a city in southwestern Afghanistan, near the border with Iran, which has a population of 160,902 people as of 2015. It is the capital of Nimruz Province and is linked by highways with Lashkargah ...
References
External links
* , May 23, 2017, Radio Mashaal.
* , December 3, 2016, BBC Pashto.
* , June 2, 2016, Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
.
* , May 14, 2016, Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...
.
* , May 14, 2016, Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
.
Images of Torkham
found at Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System
The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), formerly the "Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System," is an operation supported by the Defense Media Activity (DMA). It provides a connection between world media and the American ...
{{Nangarhar Province
Populated places in Nangarhar Province
Afghanistan–Pakistan border crossings
Nangarhar Province