Khyber Pakhtunkhwa خیبر پښتونخوا
—  Province  —
Counter-clockwise from top left: Peshawar Museum, Malam Jabba Ski Resort, Khyber Pass, Swat Valley, Islamia College, Peshawar, Lake Saiful Muluk, Naran
Flag of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Flag Official logo of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Logo
Coordinates: 34°00′N 71°19′E / 34.00°N 71.32°E / 34.00; 71.32Coordinates: 34°00′N 71°19′E / 34.00°N 71.32°E / 34.00; 71.32
Country	Pakistan
Established	July 1, 1970
Capital	Peshawar
Largest city	Peshawar
Government
• Type	Province
• Body	Provincial Assembly
• Governor	Syed Masood Kausar[1]
• Chief Minister	Ameer Haider Khan Hoti
• High Court	Peshawar High Court
Area
• Total	74,521 km2 (28,773 sq mi)
Population (2008 est.)
• Total	20,215,000
• Density	270/km2 (700/sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
Main Language(s)	Pashto (regional) Urdu (national) English (official) Hindko (regional) Khowar (regional)[2] Other: Kohistani, Saraiki, Punjabi, Persian
Assembly seats	124
Districts	25
Towns
Union Councils	986
Website	khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk

Tarbela Lake

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pashto: خیبر پښتونخوا [xaiˈbər pəxtunˈxwɑ]; Urdu: خیبر پختونخوا [ˈxɛːbər pəxˈtuːnxwaː]), locally called Pukhtunkhwa, and formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country. It borders Afghanistan to the north-west, Gilgit–Baltistan to the north-east, Azad Kashmir to the east, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to the west and south, Balochistan to the south and Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory to the south-east. The main ethnic group in the province is the Pashtuns; other smaller ethnic groups include most notably the Hindkowanss, Gujjar's and Chitralis. The principal languages are Pashto (locally referred to as Pukhto) The provincial capital is Peshawar.

Geography[link]

Usho Swat valley

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sits primarily on the Iranian plateau and comprises the junction where the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains on the Eurasian plate give way to the Indus-watered hills approaching South Asia. This situation has led to seismic activity in the past.^[3] The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Kohalla Bridge in Circle Bakote Abbottabad is a major crossing point over the Jhelum River in the east.

The province has an area of 28,773 mi² or (74,521 km²) - comparable in size to New England in North America.^[4] The province's main districts are Peshawar, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Kohistan, Kohat, Abbottabad, Haripur and Mansehra, Swat,buner vally Bannu and Karak. Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Hangu are the main cities.

The region varies in topography from dry rocky areas in the south to forests and green plains in the north. The climate can be extreme with intensely hot summers to freezing cold winters. Despite these extremes in weather, agriculture remains important and viable in the area.

On the way to shahi bagh Lake "Swat valley"

The hilly terrain of Kalam, Upper Dir,Swat, Naran and Kaghan is renowned for its beauty and attracts a great many tourists from neighboring regions and from around the world. Swat is termed 'a piece of Switzerland' as there are many landscape similarities between it and the mountainous terrain of Switzerland.

According to the 1998 census, the population of the province was approximately 17 million.^[5] of whom 52% are males and 48% are females. The density of population is 187 per km² and the intercensal change of population is of about 30%. Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern one extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of Peshawar basin, and the southern one extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.

The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall. The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scanty rainfall.

The major rivers that criss-cross the province are Kabul River, Swat River, Chitral River, Kunar River, Siran River, Panjgora River, Bara River, Kurram River, Dor River, Haroo River, Gomal River and Zhob River.

Its snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys of unusual beauty have enormous potential for tourism .

Climate[link]

The climate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa varies immensely for a region of its size, encompassing most of the many climate types found in Pakistan. The province stretching southwards from the Baroghil Pass in the Hindu Kush covers almost six degrees of latitude; it is mainly a mountainous region. Dera Ismail Khan is one of the hottest places in the South Asia while in the mountains to the north the weather is temperate in the summer and intensely cold in the winter. The air is generally very dry and consequently the daily and annual range of temperature is quite large.^[6]

Rainfall also varies widely. Although large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are typically dry, the province also contains the wettest parts of Pakistan in its eastern fringe.

Three main climatic regions can be distinguished within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:

Ghabral, Swat Valley

Kundol Lake, Swat valley

Chitral District[link]

Chitral District lies completely sheltered from the monsoon that controls the weather in eastern Pakistan, owing to its relatively westerly location and the shielding effect of the Nanga Parbat massif. In many ways Chitral District has more in common regarding climate with Central Asia than South Asia.^[7] The winters are generally cold even in the valleys, and heavy snow during the winter blocks passes and isolates the region from the world. In the valleys, however, summers can be hotter than on the windward side of the mountains due to lower cloud cover: Chitral can reach 40 °C (104 °F) frequently during this period.^[8] However, the humidity is extremely low during these hot spells and as a result the summer climate is less torrid than in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Most precipitation falls as thunderstorms or snow during winter and spring, so that the climate at the lowest elevations is classed as Mediterranean (Csa), continental Mediterranean (Dsa) or semi-arid (BSk). Summers are extremely dry in the north of Chitral district and receive only a little rain in the south around Drosh. However, at elevations above 5,000 metres (16,400 ft), it is known that as much as a third of the snow which feeds the large Karakoram and Hindukush glaciers comes from the monsoon since these elevations are too high to be shielded from its moisture.^[7]

Central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa[link]

On the southern flanks of Nanga Parbat and in Upper and Lower Dir Districts, rainfall is much heavier than further north because moist winds from the Arabian Sea are able to penetrate the region and when they collide with the mountain slopes winter depressions provide heavy precipitation. The monsoon, although short, is generally powerful and as a result the southern slopes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the wettest part of Pakistan. Annual rainfall ranges from around 500 millimetres (20 in) in the most sheltered areas to as much as 1,750 millimetres (69 in) in parts of Abbottabad and Mansehra Districts.

This region’s climate is classed at lower elevations as humid subtropical (Cfa in the west; Cwa in the east); whilst at higher elevations with a southerly aspect it becomes classed as humid continental (Dfb). However, accurate data for altitudes above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) are practically nonexistent either here, in Chitral, or in the south of the province.

The seasonality of rainfall in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shows very marked gradients from east to west. At Dir, March remains the wettest month due to frequent frontal cloud-bands, whereas in Hazara more than half the rainfall comes from the monsoon.^[10] This creates a unique situation characterized by a bimodal rainfall regime, which extends into the southern part of the province described below.^[10]

Since cold air from the Siberian High loses its chilling capacity upon crossing the vast Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, winters in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are somewhat milder than in Chitral. Snow remains very frequent at high altitudes but rarely lasts long on the ground in the major towns and agricultural valleys. Outside of winter, temperatures in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not so hot as in Chitral, but significantly higher humidity when the monsoon is active means that heat discomfort can be greater. However, even during the most humid periods the high altitudes typically allow for some relief from the heat overnight.

Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa[link]