Talk:Khyber Pass

Safety?

An anonymous user claims this area is "safe". Last I heard, it quite definitely wasn't. However, I have not been there recently. Anyone else care to comment? (WT-en) Pashley 00:59, 6 June 2006 (EDT)

'Safe' is a relative term, but as long as you familiarize yourself with a pistol and carry one you'll be fine as long as you respect the local customs. As for the whole 'carrying a gun equals spying', it's complete bs.82.8.176.38 14:57, 5 April 2010 (EDT)

Update: I felt it was important to stress 'respecting local customs', what I should say is if you do plan to visit research sharia and apply it, do NOT expect the western cultural values to have any validity there.82.8.176.38 15:05, 5 April 2010 (EDT)

Deletion

User:Saqib just removed the Talk and Cities sections because "this is not a regional article". What is it then? The tag down at the bottom says "city", which is nonsense. I do not think the route is complex enough or the article detailed enough to make much of an itinerary. I'd call it an extra-hierarchical region, & we now have a tag for that. Any comment before I insert it?

Back to the main point. I think those two sections should stay. Content was:

The local language is Pashto, but many people also speak Pakistan's Urdu or Afghanistan's Dari. A few speak English.

The nearest towns on the route that goes over the pass are Jalalabad in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan.

This is useful information and seems likely to be unknown to travellers, or at least to ones from distant places.

On the other hand, I think the Do, Buy, Eat, Drink and Sleep sections should probably go. Pashley (talk) 13:49, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Frankly speaking, while cleaning up the Pakistani articles, this was the article where I thought I should probably discuss whether to make it a region article or itinerary article. I know this cannot be a city article. So are you proposing to add extra-hierarchical template and make it a region article but why you want to delete Do, Buy, Eat, Drink and Sleep sections? They're standard sections and should be in a regional article. Furthermore, it has been already mentioned in the parent article's talk section that "Pashtu is the predominant language in the region, though many people also speak Urdu." so thats why I removed the talk section per here and I would still say it should go. Btw, where I deleted "The nearest towns on the route that goes over the pass are Jalalabad in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan."? --Saqib (talk) 14:06, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

"The nearest towns ..." was the content of the Cities section. I see it is now in Understand; I think I'll move it into the introduction.

I still think Talk is worth having here; not everyone will look at the parent article.

For Do ... Sleep, I do not think there is or ever will be much to say. When I went through in 1974, there was a hotel with quite a good restaurant across from the Customs place on the Pakistan side of the border, but I've no idea if that is still there. Pashley (talk) 14:17, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

I've not been to Khyber Pass yet but obviously there must be few hotels as well restaurants as this is an International border crossing anyway. --Saqib (talk) 14:36, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Warning

I personally feel the warning section is unnecessary. It has not been safe in the past but the Pakistan army have guarded the area from criminal activity. I hope this is a basic understanding for why it is necessary to delete the warning box. Slushiu (talk) 11:47, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, Wikivoyage cares about your personal opinion, and cares equally about the official opinions of the governments issuing travel warnings. They must not be erased until said official travel warnings are eventually lifted. Ibaman (talk) 11:50, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Also, is the Pakistani Army guarding both sides of the border? Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:58, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

The pass itself is entirely in Pakistan. Pashley (talk) 13:18, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

When I went through in the 1970s the Army officer we had dinner with in Torkham told us the pass was safe because the government paid the local tribal chief to protect it. If our VW van did not emerge from the pass in reasonable time, he'd send a few lads in a jeep to check & if they found us, they'd assist us. However if we were out of sight of the road they'd ask the chief to look into it, but the army could do nothing.

I reworded the warning a bit. I wanted to move it into the understand section, but what do others think? Pashley (talk) 13:18, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

This has come up again. I just reverted an edit claiming "Travel to this area is absolutely safe." I did not hesitate to do that because the edit also had grammar and formatting errors & I do not think the area has been absolutely safe at any time in recorded history. On the other hand it may now be reasonably safe, as it seemed to be when I passed though decades back, before the Russian invasion.

Current text says "local forces, Taliban, the Pakistani military and US drones are all active". Since the US has withdrawn from Af, I doubt they still have drones active over the pass. The other groups are no doubt still present & well armed, but perhaps not "active" in the sense of shooting at anyone.

What should this warning say? Or should it be deleted? Pashley (talk) 11:20, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

@Saqib: Pashley (talk) 11:23, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

Khyber_Pass#Get_in may also need updating. Pashley (talk) 11:38, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for pinging. I never been to this part of the country. However I will ask around and revert. --Saqib (talk) 07:17, 14 July 2022 (UTC)