Now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (government website here).  Another piece of history re-named; it does sadden me who remembers Jan’s and Dean’s in Pesh.

From the past:

…
Weighing a Pathan against an Englishman for their valour in ‘The Ballad of East and West’, Kipling exclaims:

“Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face,
Though they come from the ends of the earth!’“

Immediately before in the poem:

…
They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found not fault,
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt:
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod,
On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names of God.
The Colonel’s son he rides the mare and Kamal’s boy the dun,
And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one.
And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear–
There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer.
“Ha’ done! ha’ done!” said the Colonel’s son. “Put up the steel at your sides!
Last night ye had struck at a Border thief–to-night ’tis a man of the Guides!”

This book is worth the read, makes one worry about the people the West now uses when dealing with lesser breeds without the law counterinsurgent militants:

Waging War in Waziristan

Shagai Fort, Khyber pass, take a look at other photos in Afstan 1967-68–such as this one:

More:

…
Shagai Fort is an imposing red fort. It was built by the British in the 1920s and is now manned by the Frontier Force.The Fort was an important base in the tribal zone of Pakistan. For many years it is the headquarters of the Khyber Rifles – the traditional guardians of the pass and it is stragically placed at the centre of the Kyber.

Then there’s this photo–and then remember the dates above and then think again.  Please:

For Shujat Ali Shah, Kohat (and Nasli, of the pool amongst other things).  Nostalgie de la poussière.

Mark
Ottawa