Kulma Pass

The Kulma Pass (Tajik: Перевал Кульма, Chinese: 阔勒买山口) or Qolma Pass, also referred to as Karasu Pass, is a mountain pass across the Pamir Mountains on the border between Murghob District, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. Asian Highway AH66 runs through the pass, which provides for the only modern day overland border crossing along the 450 km boundary between the two nations. The pass has an elevation of 4,362.7 metres (14,313 ft) and opens from the north to the southeast, and is 500 m wide from north to south and 1 km in length from east to west with a gentle incline not exceeding 20 percent. On the Tajik side, the pass is 80 km by road to Murghab and about 850 km to Dushanbe. On the Chinese side, the pass is 13.9 km from Karasu (卡拉苏口岸), a port of entry on the Karakorum Highway which leads to Tashkurgan (60–70 km) and Kashgar (220 km). In the past, the pass used to be open from the 16th to the 30th day of each month from May to November. In most recent years it is open all weekdays all year round (except for national festivities). The pass was closed for many years due to political tensions between the Soviet Union and China, and then the Tajikistani Civil War. In 1997, China and Tajikistan signed an agreement to develop a commercial corridor between the two countries through the pass. The opening of the pass reduced cargo travel time between the two countries by ten to fifteen days, obviating lengthy detours into Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.