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Broghil Pass

Mountain pass on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border

Field	Value
name	Broghil Pass
native_name
photo	Mountain passes of Afghanistan2.png
photo_caption	Mountain passes of Afghanistan
elevation	3798 m
map	Karakoram#Afghanistan#Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan#Pamir
map_caption	Location of the Broghil Pass within the greater Karakoram region
label_position	bottom
coordinates
location	Afghanistan-Pakistan border
range	Hindu Kush
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	12
mapframe-wikidata	yes

| mapframe-zoom = 12 | mapframe-wikidata = yes

Broghil Pass (; ) is a high mountain pass crossing the Hindu Kush mountain range along the Pakistan–Afghanistan Border, connecting Upper Chitral District of Pakistan with Wakhan District of Afghanistan. It is at an elevation of 3798 m.

Sarhad Broghil is the nearest town in Afghanistan from the pass. The road is being improved as of early 2025.

History

Although the ultimate etymology is uncertain, Broghil is suggested to have been derived from two Khowar words, baṛa (lit. high) and gol (lit. valley) or guṛ (lit. ravine), translating into high valley or ravine. A tributary of Wakhan River flows across Broghil, forming a narrow ravine. Broghil is a relatively low pass. It was closed for about three months each winter because of snow, but for much of the rest of the year it was passable even for cart traffic.

It is one of the four major mountain passes entering Chitral District; the others are the Dorah Pass from Badakshan Province of Afghanistan, Shandur Top from Gilgit, and Lowari Top from Upper Dir District.

European migration

According to the National Geographic Genographic Project, Broghol Pass appears to be the route used by the ancestors of all modern Western Europeans to reach Europe. Modern Europeans carrying the M45 genetic marker crossed Broghol and then turned west; M45 further mutated to become M173 and then M343, which is carried by 70% of the population of England.

In popular culture

The 1985 comedy movie Spies Like Us depicts Dan Aykroyd crossing the Broghol Pass on a mountain yak.

References

(26 July 2024). "400 Families in Wakhan, Badakhshan Lack Access to Clean Drinking Water". TOLOnews.
(13 March 2025). "MoRRD inks agreement for gravelling of Wakhan road". Pajhwok Afghan News.
پروفیسر اسرار الدین. (17 February 2023). "چترال کے مختلف مقامات کی لوک تاریخ (قسط اول): پروفیسر اسرار الدین".
(2007). "Afghanistan". Lonely Planet.
"Atlas of the Human Journey - the Genographic Project".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

mountain-passes-of-afghanistan wakhan mountain-passes-of-khyber-pakhtunkhwa landforms-of-badakhshan-province

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