Khyber Pass
"From Mozambique to those Memphis nights, the Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights""No excuse to be so callous, dress yourself in bleeding madras, charm your way across the Khyber Pass"
Like Receta, it can be certain that at one time, this mountain roadway on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was a major thoroughfare, known the world over due to its history dating back to the earliest days of the Silk Road.
However, in today's world, especially from the Western point of view, where personal travel is often by airplane, and cargo shipments make their way from A to B on giant container ships, a little mountain path becomes forgotten.
That isn't to say that the Khyber Pass is not important. In history books, it can likely be found, owing to its significant strategic location, which has honored it with crossing by such famous military leaders as Alexander the Great, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan. The British fought bloody battles on the pass trying to take control of Afghanistan in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even in World War II, they reinforced the pass to protect from the far-fetched possibility of a German invasion of India. Today, the strategic importance is shown by the transport of military supplies for the US and NATO over the pass into Afghan territory.
However, what history of the road that isn't soaked in blood is instead coasted in dust. At one side of the Pass is the Pakistani town of Landi Kotal, a rather dusty community, twenty some miles out from the city of Peshawar, and on the other side are the expanses of the barren Safed Koh mountains, stripped of what foliage had existed during the Afghan Civil War.
With a history like this, it seems that perhaps while some people would like to remember the history of the Khyber Pass, such as Tom Cochrane mentioning it in "Life is a Highway" or Vampire Weekend's use in "M79," there are many that would like to forget the events that have happened in its vicinity.
However, in today's world, especially from the Western point of view, where personal travel is often by airplane, and cargo shipments make their way from A to B on giant container ships, a little mountain path becomes forgotten.
That isn't to say that the Khyber Pass is not important. In history books, it can likely be found, owing to its significant strategic location, which has honored it with crossing by such famous military leaders as Alexander the Great, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan. The British fought bloody battles on the pass trying to take control of Afghanistan in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even in World War II, they reinforced the pass to protect from the far-fetched possibility of a German invasion of India. Today, the strategic importance is shown by the transport of military supplies for the US and NATO over the pass into Afghan territory.
However, what history of the road that isn't soaked in blood is instead coasted in dust. At one side of the Pass is the Pakistani town of Landi Kotal, a rather dusty community, twenty some miles out from the city of Peshawar, and on the other side are the expanses of the barren Safed Koh mountains, stripped of what foliage had existed during the Afghan Civil War.
With a history like this, it seems that perhaps while some people would like to remember the history of the Khyber Pass, such as Tom Cochrane mentioning it in "Life is a Highway" or Vampire Weekend's use in "M79," there are many that would like to forget the events that have happened in its vicinity.
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