The Iron Gate breaks up the 4000m high mountains between Samarkand and a province which is 20 kilometers northwest of provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif.
 It breaks up the mountains which extend from the Hisar range south towards the Amu Darya. 
Balkh ( ; Persian/Pashto:  "Balkh"; Bactrian: , "axl") is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km south of the Amu Darya river. 
