Torkham

Torkham is the busiest land crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the only one most travellers use, a gate at the foot of the Khyber where the road from Jalalabad meets the road down to Peshawar. Something like ten thousand people and several hundred lorries pass it on a working day, and the queues of trucks stand for kilometres on both sides. It shuts without notice for days or weeks whenever the two governments fall out, which they do often. There is nothing here but the crossing, the freight yards and the money changers. The pass itself is on the Pakistani side and the Afghan gate sits below it.