The Khyber Pass: Physical and Human Geography Connection - Case Study Example

The Khyber Pass: Physical and Human Geography Connection Afghanistan has never been a quiet place on the world map. This country suffered from endless wars, invasions and conflicts, and its geography helped its defenders to struggle against the occupants. The Khyber Pass is a link between the two neighboring nations – Pakistan and Afghanistan – and has strategic significance in recent conflicts resolving. This area is a perfect example of connection between the physical and human geography, and this connection explains difficulties the troops face when trying to take over this important location. History of the Region Historically, the Khyber Pass has been a strategic starting point of various armies’ invasions and an important trade routes point. The year 326 B. C. is reckoned to be the time when this place started gaining a reputation of a strategic military gateway. That year, Alexander the Great led his army through the Khyber Pass and reached Indian plains, from where by means of Indus River sailing down his army went on moving further through Gedrosia desert. “In the A.D. 900s, Persian, Mongol, and Tartar armies forced their way through the Khyber, bringing Islam to India.” (Afghan Network, 2001). 997 A. D. is the year when the armies of Islamic states passed through this area, and between the years 1001 and 1030 A. D. there were seventeen Muslim armies marches some of which were through the Khyber Pass. In 1175 A. D., the Khyber Pass was crossed by a famous Ghauri dynasty representative – Shabuddin Muhammad Ghaur, and this meant the consolidation of the Islamic achievements on the Indian territory. Later on, he used the Khyber Pass once again in 1193, and the result of the battle of Tarain was the establishment of a kingdom of Muslims in India. (Afghan Network, 2001). The conquests with the use of the Khyber Pass went on, and in 1398 A. D. “…Amir Timur, the firebrand from Central Asia, invaded India through the Khyber Pass and his descendant Zahiruddin Babur made use of this pass first in 1505 and then in 1526 to establish a mighty Mughal empire.” (Afghan Network, 2001). 1672 was the year of another famous and important event with the strategic use of the Khyber Pass related to military actions, of course: the army of Muhammad Amin Khan was defeated by Ajmal Khan Afridis troops. Iranian ruler Nadir Shah Afshar used this location in the year 1739 to enter Delhi after an easy and spectacular defeat of the opponents and capturing their leader. (Afghan Network, 2001; Browne, 1959, 133). When the Afghans in 1747 chose Ahmad Shah Durrani as their leader, Afghan army was growing powers, which resulted in one of the biggest and the most significant Afghan victories in the local wars, the battle of Panipat, 1761, when the Maratha Empire of India was crushed. Afghan army crossed the Khyber Pass in the course of the warfare actions. (Afghan Network, 2001; Library of Congress Country Studies, 1997). The period between the years 1839 and 1919 was also rich in wars called Afghan wars: the first Afghan war took place in 1839-1842, the second Afghan war lasted from 1878 to 1879, and the third Afghan war was a short-term conflict of 1919. The British armed forces used the Khyber Pass for the purpose of struggle against the Afghans. (Afghan Network, 2001). When India became a British colony and was included into the British Empire, which happened centuries later, the Khyber Pass became a base of the British armed forces defending the British India. The British also feared invasion of the Russian Empire of the Indian subcontinent, and the Pass again played an important role in defense from those menace. The British invasion brought both positive and negative consequences to the region: in January 1842, the most well-known battle between the native Afghan and British and Indian troops took place which resulted in 16,000 soldiers killing; a road running through the Khyber Pass was constructed by the British in 1879, later on, in 1920s, it was upgraded to a highway, and in the same period of time a railroad was constructed. (Afghan Network, 2001). As it was already mentioned, the history of Afghanistan is a history of constant wars, conquests and conflicts with very few and relatively short periods of silence and peace. The middle, last quarter and the end of the XX century was not an exception for this long-suffering country, on the contrary, it is today possible to call it the most tragic and dramatic period the eco of which is still vibrating even though much time passed since its beginning. The period of 40-year-long Zahir Shah’s reign was the last time when the country enjoyed peace and even had some perspectives of a stable development and fixing of the ruler’s achievements. Zahir Shah skillfully managed to save his country in a neutral state in the Second World War and the Cold War, and the neutrality in the second conflict allowed Afghanistan to receive benefits from both parties of the conflict. The USA and the USSR spent much money on development of the country’s infrastructure, the specialists of both countries built schools, hospitals and other important objects. It is no wonder that these actions had other grounds than just helping the Afghan nation – both superpowers took great pains to take over the strategic initiative in the region and to gain a potential ally in the Middle Asia. (History World, 2015). In 1973, when economic difficulties and political instability in the country deprived the nation of patience and brought about some odious politicians willing power, there was a coup Daud Khan, former Afghanistan Prime Minister, and he gained the power back. Though he was supported by the Afghan armed forces and left-wing political elements, he went on neutral policy in the international arena and tried to do something with the ongoing conflicts with a neighboring nation, Pakistan. (History World, 2015). Five years later, in 1978, there was a revolution of the left-wing political parties, and the country experiences a short period of Communist reforms under advice of Moscow. The governmental efforts to equalize the rights of men and women and other actions which were in contradiction with the Islamic traditions resulted in a jihad against the violators of the Islam laws, and the years 1979-1989 stand for a bloody and senseless Soviet-Afghan war. The country was devastated, many people were killed and the instability was the main product of that war. This instability caused a civil war of 1989-1994, and the Islamist movement Taliban gaining popularity starts governing the country in 1996 and ends it in 2001. The US global war on terror legalized the American invasion of Afghanistan aimed at fighting against Al-Qaeda, and this was a continuation of the bloody mess of the previous century in a new one. (History World, 2015). These events are directly related to the Khyber Pass because it was used by different forces in different periods of time for their strategic purposes, and the reasons for this are also in the sphere of physical and human geography of this location. Physical Geography of the Khyber Pass As it was already mentioned, the Khyber Pass links the two neighboring countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is located in mountainous areas of both nations, Spin Ghar mountain range from the Afghan side or Safed Koh from the Pakistan side. (ePeshawar, 2010). “The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush mountain range.” (Afghan Network, 2001). The Hindu Kush mountain range has high mountains as it belongs to the Himalayas. The mountains of the Khyber Pass region are so high that it is possible to climb some of them only in several places. “The pass is walled by precipitous cliffs that vary in height from about 180 to 300 m.” (Afghan Network, 2001). The highest elevation of the Khyber Pass is located at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The width of the Pass varies between the ranges of 3 and 137 meters. (Afghan Network, 2001). The climate of the location where the Khyber pass is situated is specific. It makes the tourist travelers and the caravans cross this pass only in warm seasons, summer and spring, because the Khyber Pass “…is too steep and cold to safely traverse during winter and late autumn.” (National Geographic, 2015). As mountainous area is dominating in Eastern part of Afghanistan, where the Khyber Pass is located, earthquakes which are very damaging often take place. (Rosenberg, 2015). This phenomenon of physical geography was used in military actions of the Afghan rebels against the Soviet invaders: when the snow in the mountains melted, the rebels had the opportunity to organize counter-attacks and use the mountains for the purpose of the troops hiding. (Bearden, 2009). Besides the natural geographical objects, the Khyber Pass also has the artificially created ones, such as forts and fortification buildings left by the British army during its military campaigns in these places, and concrete tank obstacles of the times of the Second World War designed to protect the British India from the possible German invasion of the British colony. (ePeshawar, 2010). The geographic location of the Khyber Pass is strategic from other points than military only. As Afghanistan has no access to the sea and, consequently, does not possess sea ports, there is a need to reach the closest sea ports located in Pakistan. As it was already mentioned, Afghanistan’s complicated relations with Pakistan, especially in the course of the recent events and accidents on the border between the two states are always a serious problem, and it often adversely affects the solution of the sea access issue. The road connection by means if the use of the Khyber Pass performs also economic functions: this is the way which makes the movement of the goods from the Eastern Asia countries to Afghanistan possible. (Sager, Helgren, Brooks, 2003). It is logical that the peculiarities of the physical geography influence the life of the local population, that is, the human geography of the Khyber Pass. To find out the results of that influence it is necessary to clarify the ethnic composition of the Afghan population, especially in the region where the Khyber Pass is located, that is, to investigate into the region’s human geography. The Eastern (where the Pass is located) and the Southern parts of Afghanistan are populated by the ethnolinguistic group of the Pashtun people. This group makes the biggest part of the entire population of the country. There is a problem of artificial division of the Pashtun people in Afghanistan and Pakistan: the British divided the two nations by means of the Durand line to regulate the relationships between the UK and Afghanistan and to define the spheres of interests and influence, and this line artificially split the single 40-million nation into two parts, and the problem is that the large groups of the Pashtun people, approximately 15 million in Afghanistan and about 25 million in Pakistan, cannot reunite. (Bearden, 2009). Taking into consideration that the Islamic tradition presupposes preserving of the cultural and ethnic ties of the people of the same ethnicity, this situation, logically, was and still remains a constant background of various problems concerning not only Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also the neighboring countries, such as Iran and India and influences the state of affairs in the entire world. The Pashtun people of the east and the south of Afghanistan were the main power that resisted the aggressors’ troops in recent conflicts. (Bearden, 2009). “During the Afghan-Soviet War (1979-1989), Pashtuns were important members of the mujahideen. These are Islamic guerrilla groups that fought the Soviets during their takeover of Afghanistan.” (Burnet Middle School, 2014). These rebels from the villages closely neighboring the Khyber Pass used its mountains to increase success of their military operations. The situation in terms of human geography of this region did not improve with the end of the war. On the contrary, it were the Pashtuns who dominated over Taliban, an extremist Islamist movement connected with terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, and its leader, Osama bin Laden. (Burnet Middle School, 2014). Although the Pakistan government made attempts to control the Pashtuns of Pakistan by means of order maintenance in the FATA – Federally Administrated Tribal Area, the Pashtuns predominantly populating this area and sympathizing Taliban organizaion crossed the border and attacked the coalition of the international forces after the US-led intervention of Afghanistan in 2001. The Pashtuns of Pakistan supported the Taliban insurgency aimed at traditional activity for the Pashtun people – struggle against the aggressors. (Bearden, 2009). The information about the physical and human geography of the Khyber Pass region proves its strategic importance in all the senses and aspects of meaning of this word. It is possible to establish a connection between the two mentioned kinds of geography: physical geographical conditions of the mountainous region determine the way of life of the local inhabitants, and human geography relates to the physical one in terms of historical realities of the Pashtun people who did not leave their land despite devastating invasions. These facts also explain rather mediocre overall results of the US military campaign in Afghanistan which happened to be very protracted and once again emphasize strategic location of the Khyber Pass which the NATO troops used as a main route of supplies of food and ammunition. When due to danger caused by combat actions it became impossible to use the existing route in a usual way, the US faced the necessity to search for alternative routes, and even variants including cooperation with Russia were proposed. (Bearden, 2009). The reasons why it is impossible to take a stable and constant control over this region are obvious and logical. Firstly, physical geography, particularly high and dangerous mountains, serves as perfect natural means of hiding and sorties of the insurgents. Secondly, the number of the insurgents is rather high, and abundancy of weapon in the country is felt in this region as well because the weapon was not returned after warfare conflicts. Thirdly, Pakistan’s de-facto neutral position in Afghanistan war is a considerable factor of influence: the country’s lack of desire to resolve the problem of the Pashtun insurgency and sympathies of the Pakistan Pashtuns to Taliban is a constant reason for accusations of not fulfilling duties on maintaining peace in the region. (Bearden, 2009; National Geographic, 2015). Conclusion The case study of the Khyber Pass, a link between the two neighboring nations, Pakistan and Afghanistan, proves that the physical and human geography are connected with each other, and it is possible to state that physical geography determines peculiarities of the human geography of this location. Due to peculiarities of these two kinds of geography, it is possible to explain fails to control this strategic gateway to full extent: peculiarities of geography – mountains as a natural shelter for insurgent elements, excessive number of rebels and weapons they are armed with, and neutral position of an important player of the region – Pakistan. Works Cited Afghan Network. Khyber Pass. 2001. Web. 1 May 2015. Bearden, M. Curse of the Khyber Pass. 2009. Web. 1 May 2015. Browne, E. A Literary History pf Persia. 1959. Web. 1 May 2015. Burnet Middle School. The Khyber Pass. 2014. Web. 1 May 2015. ePeshawar. Khyber Gate/Khyber Pass. 2010. Web. 1 May 2015. History World. History of Afghanistan. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015. Library of Congress Country Studies. Afghanistan. 1997. Web. 1 May 2015. National Geographic. The Khyber Pass. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015. Rosenberg, M. Afghanistan. 2015. Web. 1 May 2015. Sager, R., Helgren, D., Brooks, A. People, Places and Change: An Introduction to World Studies. Austin: Holt McDougal, 2003. Read More