
The Unai Pass or Onai Pass () is a mountain pass on the western side of the Paghman Mountains in
Jalrez District,
Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan. It is of strategical importance due to its geographical location to the southwest of
Kabul
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
. The
Sarchashma River flows through the pass, which is the upstream part of the
Kabul River.
The Maidan River, a tributary of the Kabul/Sarchashma rises at the pass at an altitude of about .
Due to its importance, the pass has had a long history of being the focus of conflict in Afghanistan. In 1929, Muhammad Mir Fath (1901-1964) was one of three Hazara commanders who defeated the forces of
Habibullah Kalakani at the pass between March and September of that year. The ''
mujahedin'' took the Unai Pass in the spring of 1979 during the war against the
Soviet-backed Afghan communist regime, and Jalrez district was one of the earliest districts to be taken.
In 1983, the
Hazara Al-Nasr group attacked the
Harakat Islami in Siasang and the area near the pass.
In 2008, the Ministry of Public Works began the rehabilitation of 136 kilometres of the Kabul highway, with a 36 million euros funding from the Italian government. The first phase of the project, Lot No 1, began in 2008 with the rehabilitation of a 54-kilometre stretch of earth road starting in
Maidan Shar and working towards the Unai Pass.
References
{{Wardak Province
Jalrez District
Mountain passes of Afghanistan
Hazarajat