The western mountains

• The Western mountains are many parallel ranges. These are not as tall as the western mountains.
• The western mountains are made up of the Safed Koh ranges, the Waziristan hills, the Sulaiman range and the Kirthar range.
• The Safed Koh ranges lie in an east to west direction, south of the Kabul river.
• Safed Koh means white mountains. This is because their peaks are often covered with snow.
• The Kohat valley is at the other end of the Khurram pass and is located in the Safed Koh ranges.
• The Vale of Peshawar is a fertile valley drained by the Kabul and Swat rivers. This valley is located in the Safed Koh ranges.
• The Waziristan hills are located between the Khurram and Gomal rivers in a mineralised zone.
• The Bannu valley lies to the east of the Waziristan hills. It is a low-lying basin bordered by hills and mountains and drained by streams with braided channels.
• Bannu is near the Tochi pass and Dera Ismail Khan is near the Gomal pass. These both are important towns and military centres.
• The Sulaiman range lies to the west of the River Indus.
• The average height of the Sulaiman range is 3379 metres.
• The highest peak in the Sulaiman Range is the Takht-e-Sulaiman.
• On its south, the Sulaiman range meets the Kirthar range.
• The Khyber pass is wide enough to facilitate the passage of troops and it leads to the Vale of Peshawar.
• The Khurram pass is a route to Afghanistan.
• The Tochi pass connects Ghazni to Bannu.
• The Gomal pass connects Afghanistan to Derajats.
• The Bolan pass connects the Kachhi Sibi plain to Quetta.
• The western mountains are mostly bare of vegetation.
• The climate and relief do not support farming and canal irrigation is also not possible because of the mountainous terrain and rugged landscape.
• Transportation facilities in the Western mountains is also limited.
• Life in the western mountains is very difficult because of the rugged landscape. The cost of supplying infrastructure there is also very high because of the landscape.
• Because of the lack of infrastructure and the cost of supplying it, projects such as mining, industries and schools have been established.
• A nomadic lifestyle is usually adopted and the population density is lower than 100 people per square kilometer.
• There are many abundant mineral resources in the western mountains, but they are not being extracted due to the difficulty of doing so.