Attock Fort

Attock Fort sits on a rocky ridge above the eastern bank of the Indus River in Pakistan's Punjab province, commanding the most strategically vital river crossing between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Mughal emperor Akbar ordered its construction in 1580 to secure the chokepoint where the Kabul River meets the Indus — a node on the ancient route that the British would later name the Grand Trunk Road, linking Kabul and the Khyber Pass to the Indian plains and ultimately Calcutta. The fort's sandstone ramparts and bastions are characteristic of Mughal military architecture. From the ridge, visitors look out over the wide Indus to the opposite bank — the same vantage point that armies, merchants, and travellers have used as their last landmark before the Khyber crossing for over four centuries.