GOMAL or GUMAL, the name of a river of Afghanistan, and of a mountain pass on the Dera Ismail Khan border of the North West Frontier Province of British India. The Gomal river rises in the unexplored regions to the south-east of Ghazni and runs to the Indus. Its chief tributary is the Zhob. Within British territory the Gomal bounds the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, and more or less the Pathan and Baluch races. The Gomal pass is the most important pass on the Indian frontier between the Khyber and the Bolan. It connects Dera Ismail Khan with the Gomal valley in Afghanistan, and has formed for centuries the outlet for the povindah trade. In 1889 the Govern ment of India decided that the Zhob valley should, like the Bori valley, be brought under British protection and control, and the Gomal pass should be opened. After the Waziristan expedition of 1894 Wana was occupied by British troops in order to dominate the Gomal and Waziristan ; but on the formation of the North West Frontier Province in 1901 it was occupied by the South Waziristan militia.
Since the Waziri rising during the third Afghan War in Wana has been abandoned, but the Gomal route is still protected.