Bolan Pass

Bolān Pass
Bolan Pass depicted on a 1910 advertisement card for Liebig Meat Extract Company
Elevation	1,793.4 m (5,884 ft)
Traversed by	N-65 National Highway;Rohri–Chaman Railway Line
Location	Balochistan, Pakistan
Range	Toba Kakar Range
Coordinates	29°45′N 67°35′E / 29.750°N 67.583°E / 29.750; 67.583
Location of Bolan Pass in Toba Kakar Range

The Bolān Pass is a mountain pass through the Toba Kakar Range of Balochistan province in western Pakistan, 120 kilometres from the Afghanistan border. It connects Sibi with Quetta both by road and railway. The pass itself is made up of a number of narrow gorges and stretches 89 km (55 miles) from Rindli north to Darwāza near Kolpur in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

Strategically located, traders, invaders, and nomadic tribes have also used it as a gateway to and from South Asia. The Bolān Pass is an important pass on the Baluch frontier, connecting Jacobabad and Sibi with Quetta, which has always occupied an important place in the history of British campaigns in Afghanistan.

The local population predominantly consists of Brahvi tribes, who extend from Bolan Pass to Cape Monze on the Arabian sea.

In 1837, threatened by a possible Russian invasion of South Asia via the Khyber and Bolān Passes, a British envoy was sent to Kabul to gain support of the Emir, Dost Mohammed. In February 1839, the British Army under Sir John Keane took 12,000 men through the Bolān Pass and entered Kandahar, which the Afghan Princes had abandoned; from there they would go on to attack and overthrow Ghazni.