Shadi Bagiar, entrance to Khyber Pass, 1878

Photograph by John Burke (1845-1900), 1878.

View of Shadi Bagiar, at the entrance to the Khyber Pass. British soldiers stand on sentry as a camel train prepares to move through the pass. The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush. It connects the northern frontier of what is now Pakistan with Afghanistan. During the three Afghan Wars the pass was the scene of numerous skirmishes between Anglo-Indian soldiers and local tribesmen who tried to control access to it.

The photographer John Burke accompanied the Peshawar Valley Field Force, one of three columns sent into Afghanistan during the 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880).