The XI Corps or Peshawar Corps is a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of Pakistan Army. The XI Corps is the only one corps that is assigned in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan. It is currently stationed in

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 ...

, Khyber-Pakhtaunkhuwa. The Corps was established and quickly raised in 1975 to support administrative military operational units in the NWFP and Northern Areas. The corps is internationally distinguished for its involvement in

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

Afghan War

The start of the Afghan War brought the Corps to prominence. It was given three infantry divisions as well has been given the responsibility of covering the Khyber Pass, one of the two approaches by which the Soviets could attack into Pakistan (the other was the

Bolan Pass Bolān Pass ( ur, ) is a valley and a natural gateway, through the Toba Kakar range in Balochistan province of Pakistan, south of the Afghanistan border. The pass is an stretch of the Bolan river valley from Rindli in the south to Darwāza n ...

, guarded by the XII Corps). For more than a decade it held the line against Soviet expansionism.

Kargil War

The end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

affected the Corp immensely. No longer facing a threat on its western flank, the army moved brigades and units away from the XIcorps, with its orientation being changed from a defending the Afghan border, to being a reserve force in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

. The 1999

Kargil War The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...

saw the corps enter direct action for the first time and it fought mainly in the Gultari sector of Kashmir, where one of its members, Captain Kernel Sher Khan would be posthumously awarded the highest Pakistani military award Nishan-e-Haider, after being martyred in combat.

War on Terror

After

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in the United States in 2001 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, the XI Corps became the main Pakistani formation involved in fighting in Waziristan and the North West Frontier in general. It has been reinforced and also commands substantial forces of paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Structure

The order of battle of the corps keeps changing, especially in view of its current commitment in the War on terror. During peacetime the XI corps is based in the following areas: The formations composition has changed on several occasions in the past, and like all formations on the western border it has received reinforcements for the war on terror, however its present composition is thought to be.

List of Commanders XI Corps

References

* Brain Cloughley, ''A History of Pakistan Army'' * Colonel Kaiser Hameed Khan who served in this HQ twice, as a capt during 1983 to 1986 and as Lt Col during 1996 to 1999.

External links

* GlobalSecurity.org
Global Security Website about the XI Corps

* Daily Times - Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik Takes Over As Peshawar Corps Commande

{{Pakistan Army template Corps of the Pakistan Army Military units and formations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Pakistan