ځایونه
Places
Geography
Regions, rivers, mountains and the land itself.
Articles on geography
- Spin Ghar (Safed Koh): the White Mountain on the Afghan-Pakistani borderSpin Ghar (سپین غر), Persian Safed Koh, is the snow-crowned range along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border south of the Kabul river, topped by Sikaram at about 4,760 metres. Tora Bora, Peiwar Kotal and the Shinwari, Turi, Jaji and Mangal lie on its slopes.
- The Gomal pass, the Zhob valley and the powinda roadEach autumn the powinda Ghilzai came down the Gomal and Zhob passes to the Indus plain and went home in spring; the trade ended with the loss of the Indian markets in 1947 and the border closure after 1961.
- The Helmand river and its valleyThe Helmand rises west of Kabul and runs about 1,300 km through Uruzgan and Helmand to the Hamun marshes of Sistan. The Avesta calls it Haētumant, and a treaty of 13 March 1973 fixes how much of its water Iran receives.
- The Indus (Abasin) and Attock: the eastern edge of the Pashtun countryPashtuns call the Indus Abasin (اباسين), "the Father of Rivers". Akbar's fort at Attock (1581) guards the crossing, Khushal Khan Khattak sang of Khairabad on its bank, and Tarbela and Kalabagh are the dams that touch Pashtun lands.
- The Kabul River (Landai Sind): from the Unai pass to the IndusThe Kabul river rises near the Unai pass, runs through Kabul, Jalalabad and the Peshawar valley and joins the Indus at Attock. Raverty's 1860 dictionary names its lower course Landai Sind, "the little river".
- The Kurram valley: Parachinar, Thal, Sadda and the Turi and BangashThe Kurram valley runs from the Peiwar Kotal and the Spin Ghar down to Thal, with the Turi holding Upper Kurram and Sunni tribes Lower Kurram. Roberts's army took the Peiwar Kotal in 1878; its road was shut 2007-2011 and again from 2024.
- The Pashtun lands: mountains, rivers and passesThe Pashtun lands lie on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, among the Hindu Kush, Spin Ghar and the Sulaiman range. Their rivers run east to the Indus or south-west into Sistan, and the Khyber, Kurram, Gomal, Khojak and Bolan passes cross the mountains.
- The Sulaiman mountains and Takht-i SulaimanThe Sulaiman range (Koh-i Sulaiman) runs about 250 miles from the Gomal river to the Indus plain, with Takht-i Sulaiman, or Kaisa Ghar, its highest massif, held by the Sherani and covered with chilghoza pine.
- Tirah and the Bara valley: Afridi and Orakzai highlandsTirah is the Afridi and Orakzai highland between the Khyber and Kurram, and the Bara river runs from it to Peshawar. A British army invaded it in 1897; its people were displaced again in 2025 and 2026.
- Waziristan: mountains, valleys and townsWaziristan is the hill country between the Tochi and the Gomal, home of the Wazir, Mahsud and Daur and of the Ormur of Kaniguram. It fought British garrisons in 1919-20 and 1936-47, and its people were displaced by operations in 2009 and 2014.