Tang-e Gharu

File:KABUL_GORGE_-_AFGHANISTAN.jpg passes through the Tang-e Gharu gorge.]]

Tang-e Gharu, also known as Tang-e Gharo (Pashto: تنگ غارو), is a gorge and a mountain pass in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Kabul Province, Afghanistan.{{GEOnet2|7549DEBCCBBC26C4E040D6A411F73DBB}} The Kabul River passes through the gorge, flowing eastward.{{Cite book|title=Natural Wonders of the World|publisher=Reader's Digest Association, Inc|year=1980|isbn=0-89577-087-3|editor-last=Scheffel|editor-first=Richard L.|location=United States of America|pages=369|editor-last2=Wernet|editor-first2=Susan J.}} The Kabul–Jalalabad Road runs through the gorge, parallel to the river.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aH_KCWVB6W0C&q=%22Tang-e+Gharu%22&pg=PA122|title=Afghanistan Revisited|last=Gladstone|first=Cary|date=2001|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=9781590334218|language=en}} Construction on the road began in the 1940s and was completed in the 1960s,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sJcAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Tang-e+Gharu%22&pg=PA86|title=Land-locked States of Africa and Asia|last1=Hodder-Williams|first1=Richard|last2=McLachlan|first2=Keith|date=2013-12-16|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135254100|language=en}} replacing the ancient Lataband Pass in the Karkacha hills connecting Kabul and Jalalabad to Pakistan. Both the pass and the road are considered to be of major strategic importance, as they provide Afghanistan a connection to Pakistan and Russia.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErkxBgAAQBAJ&q=%22Tang-e+Gharu%22&pg=PA332|title=Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features|last1=Quinn|first1=Joyce A.|last2=Woodward|first2=Susan L.|date=2015-02-03|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610694469|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&q=%22Tang-e+Gharu%22&pg=PA414|title=Encyclopedia of World Geography|last=McColl|first=R. W.|date=2014-05-14|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816072293|language=en}} Due to heavy usage during recent conflicts in Afghanistan and frequent traffic accidents, the pass and the surrounding areas have become heavily damaged and periodically closed off.{{Cite news|url=https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/the-most-dangerous-road/|title=The Most Dangerous Road?|last=Chang|first=Richard S.|work=Wheels Blog|access-date=2017-09-23|language=en}}