The Toba Kakar or Toba Kakari ( ps, توبه کاکړۍ; ur, توبہ کاکڑ) are a southern offshoot of the

Sulaiman Mountains The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān ( Balochi/Urdu/ fa, ; "Mountains of Solomon") or Da Kasē Ghrūna ( ps, د كسې غرونه; "Mountains of Kasi"), are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system i ...

in the

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, extending into the

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

and

Zabul Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabu ...

provinces of

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 historical route through the mountains is known as 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 ...

. The mountains originally received media attention in August 1979; when evidence emerged that Pakistan may be using them as a potential workspace towards development of

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s. It was an occasional hideout for the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

during the Afghanistan conflict. A western offshoot of the range in Killa Abdullah, Balochistan and

Maruf District Maruf District (from the Persian: معروف), also Ma'ruf or Maroof, is a district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Arghistan District to the west, Zabul Province to the north and Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the ...

, Afghanistan is called the Toba Achakzai, where Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of Afghanistan, used to pass some of the hot weeks in summer during the last few years of his life.

References

Mountain ranges of the Himalayas Mountain ranges of Balochistan (Pakistan) Landforms of Kandahar Province Landforms of Zabul Province {{Baluchistan-geo-stub

See also

References