Murghab

 village, district center

Murghab (Tajik Мурғоб; Russian Мургаб, from the Persian word مرغاب meaning "river of the birds") is the capital of Murghob district in the Pamir Mountains of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, Tajikistan. With a population 4,000, Murghab is about the only significant town the eastern half of Gorno-Badakhshan. It is the highest town in Tajikistan (and of the former Soviet Union) at 3,650m above sea level. It located at the junction of the Murghab River and the Pamir Highway. The Pamir Highway goes north to Sary-Tash and on to Osh in Kyrgyzstan and southwest to the region's capital Khorog (about 300 kilometers distant). A newer road goes east over the Kulma Pass to the Karakoram Highway in China connecting to Tashkurgan to the south and Kashgar in the north. When the new road opened in May 2004, only Chinese and Tajik nationals were allowed to cross the Tajik–Chinese border at that point;[1] the status of the border crossing in 2009 is unverified. Murghab's location at the hub of these roads makes it a regional center for trade, reputedly including a significant trade in illicit drugs.

The place was founded by the Russians as 'Pamirsky Post' in 1893. The modern town was constructed during the period of Soviet rule of Tajikistan as a rest stop along the Pamir Highway. The population is about half Tajik and half Kyrgyz.
Мургабский пого