Torkham, Pakistan

Torkham (Pashto and Urdu: تورخم‎) is a Pakistani town in Khyber District (until 2018 the Khyber District of the now defunct FATA), that is the location of the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan just to the west of the historic Khyber Pass.

For the border crossing, see Torkham.
Torkham

تورخم
Town
Torkham
Coordinates: 34°7′18″N 71°6′11″E
Country Pakistan
Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
DistrictKhyber
Time zoneUTC+05:00 (PST)

Torkham lies at the end of the N-5 National Highway. It is connected to city of Peshawar in the east. Transported goods arrive to Tokham from the port city of Karachi in Sindh province. Torkham is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of the summit of the Khyber Pass. It lies on the most important supply route for US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan's government sometimes block supplies due to the American use of drone strikes in Pakistan,[1][2] and for security reasons after firing from the Afghan side against Pakistani construction workers building a border fence.[3] By the end of 2018, Pakistan had completed a 486 kilometer portion of the border fence around Torkham to seal the porous border in order to curb arms smuggling, illegal migration, and drug trafficking.[4]

Throughout history it has been an important trade route between the South Asia and Central Asia and a strategic military location. The adjacent town on the other side of border in Afghanistan is also known as Torkham. Torkham was the first point of entry into Pakistan for many of the 3.5 million Afghans who fled the Soviet invasion as refugees.[5]

Climate

With an influence from the local steppe climate, Torkham features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The average temperature in Torkham is 20.3 °C, while the annual precipitation averages 407 mm. June is the driest month with an average rainfall of 8 mm, while the wettest month is March, with an average 82 mm of precipitation.

June is the hottest month of the year with an average temperature of 31.0 °C. The coldest month January has an average temperature of 8.4 °C.

Climate data for Torkham
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 14.5
(58.1)		 16.3
(61.3)		 20.9
(69.6)		 26.1
(79.0)		 32.2
(90.0)		 38.0
(100.4)		 36.6
(97.9)		 34.8
(94.6)		 33.4
(92.1)		 28.8
(83.8)		 21.9
(71.4)		 16.4
(61.5)		 26.7
(80.0)
Daily mean °C (°F) 8.4
(47.1)		 10.5
(50.9)		 15.0
(59.0)		 19.9
(67.8)		 25.6
(78.1)		 31.0
(87.8)		 30.8
(87.4)		 29.5
(85.1)		 27.1
(80.8)		 21.4
(70.5)		 14.5
(58.1)		 9.7
(49.5)		 20.3
(68.5)
Average low °C (°F) 2.3
(36.1)		 4.7
(40.5)		 9.1
(48.4)		 13.7
(56.7)		 18.7
(65.7)		 24.0
(75.2)		 25.1
(77.2)		 24.2
(75.6)		 20.8
(69.4)		 14.1
(57.4)		 7.2
(45.0)		 3.1
(37.6)		 13.9
(57.1)
Source: Climate-Data.org[6]
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References
  1. "Pakistan blocks fuel to US forces". Al Jazeera. September 6, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  2. "Pakistan 'to reopen key NATO Afghanistan supply route'". BBC News. 2010-10-09. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  3. Joshi, Rohan. "The Torkham Incident: Why Afghanistan and Pakistan Exchanged Fire". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  4. "Pakistan-Afghan border: Army completes fencing of 482km border strip". The Express Tribune. 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  5. Segal, Uma A.; Elliott, Doreen; Mayadas, Nazneen S. (2010-01-19). Immigration Worldwide: Policies, Practices, and Trends. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 9780195388138.
  6. "Climate: Torkham - Climate-Data.org". Retrieved 9 September 2016.
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