Wakhan Corridor

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The Wakhan Corridor (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a narrow strip of territory in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. This corridor stretches eastward, connecting Afghanistan to Xinjiang, China. It also separates the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan in the north from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan regions in Pakistan in the south.<ref name="EllemanKotkin2015">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CheemaRiemer1990">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Mohiuddin2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="IBS1983">International Boundary Study of the Afghanistan–USSR Boundary (1983) by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research Pg. 7. Archived on 2011-06-07</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn This high mountain valley, which rises to a maximum altitude of Template:Convert, serves as the source of both the Panj and Pamir rivers, which converge to form the larger Amu Darya River. For countless centuries, a vital trade route has traversed this valley, facilitating the movement of travelers to and from East, South, and Central Asia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The corridor was formed after an 1893 out of British territory from now Pakistan after an agreement between Mortimer Durand of the British Raj and Emir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan, so that the Russian dominion, now Tajikistan would not touch British dominion, now Pakistan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This agreement also created the Durand Line which today forms the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.<ref>Nystrop, Richard F. And Donald M. Seekins, eds. Afghanistan a Country Study. Washington: Library of Congress, 1986, p. 38.</ref> It was last conquered by the Durrani Empire in 1763.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the time it was carved out, the narrow strip acted as a buffer zone between the Russian Empire and the British Empire (specifically the regions of Russian Turkestan, now in Tajikistan, and the northern part of the British Raj, now in Pakistan). Its eastern end bordered China's Xinjiang region, then claimed by the Qing dynasty.

The corridor is today the Wakhan District which was adjoined to Afghanistan's Badakhshan province. As of 2020, it had 17,167 residents.<ref name="population">https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204559/https://www.nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Estimated-Population-of-Afghanistan1-1400.pdf (p. 87)</ref> The northern part of the Wakhan, populated by the Wakhi and Pamiri people, is also referred to as the Pamir. The closest major airport for the residents to use is Fayzabad Airport in the city of Fayzabad to the west, which is accessible by the road network. Had this corridor not been carved out, Pakistan would share a direct border with Tajikistan.

Geography

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File:FrontLines Environment Photo Contest Winner -5 (5808476109).jpg

Floodplains in the Wakhan Corridor

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Lake Victoria, the Great Pamir, 2 May 1874, watercolour by Thomas Edward Gordon<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

At its western entrance, near the Afghan town of Ishkashim, the corridor is Template:Convert wide.<ref name="IBS1983"/> The western third of the corridor varies in width (Template:Convert) and widens to Template:Convert in the central Wakhan.<ref name="IBS1983"/> At its eastern end, the corridor forks into two prongs that wrap around a salient of Chinese territory, forming the Template:Convert boundary between the two countries.<ref name="IBS1983"/> The Wakhjir Pass, which is the easternmost point on the southeastern prong, is about Template:Convert from Ishkashim.<ref name="IBS1983"/> The easternmost point of the northeastern prong is a nameless wilderness about Template:Convert from Ishkashim.<ref name="IBS1983"/> On the Chinese side of the border is the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The northern border of the corridor is defined by the Pamir River and Lake Zorkul in the west, and the high peaks of the Pamir Mountains in the east. To the north is Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. To the south, the corridor is bounded by the high mountains of the Hindu Kush and Karakoram. Along its southern flank, two mountain passes connect the corridor to neighboring regions. The Broghol Pass provides access to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, while the Irshad Pass links the corridor to Gilgit-Baltistan. The Dilisang Pass, which also connects to Gilgit-Baltistan, is disused.<ref>The pass was crossed by a couple in 1950 and by a couple in 2004. See J.Mock and K. O'Neil: Expedition Report Template:Webarchive</ref> The easternmost pass, as indicated above, is the Wakhjir Pass, which connects to China and is the only border connection between that country and Afghanistan.

The corridor is higher in the east than in the west; (the Wakhjir Pass is Template:Convert in elevation) and descends to about Template:Convert at Ishkashim.<ref name=reu>FACTBOX-Key facts about the Wakhan Corridor Template:Webarchive. Reuters. 12 June 2009</ref> The Wakhjir River emerges from an ice cave on the Afghan side of the Wakhjir Pass and flows west, joining the Bozai Darya near the village of Bozai Gumbaz to form the Wakhan River. The Wakhan River then joins the Pamir River near Kala-i-Panj to form the Panj River, which then flows out of the Wakhan Corridor at Ishkashim.

The Chinese consider Chalachigu Valley, the valley east of Wakhjir Pass on the Chinese side connecting Taghdumbash Pamir, to be part of the Wakhan Corridor. The high mountain valley is about Template:Convert long. This valley, through which the Tashkurgan River flows, is generally about Template:Convert wide and less than Template:Convert at its narrowest point.<ref name="ChineseWakhan">Template:Cite web</ref> This entire valley on the Chinese side is closed to visitors; however, local residents and herders from the area are permitted access.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Although the terrain is extremely rugged, the Corridor was historically used as a trading route between Kabul and Kashgar.<ref name=Beveridge>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Stein>Template:Cite journal</ref> It appears that Alexander the Great, Song Yun, Huisheng, Xuanzang, Marco Polo, and many others came this way.<ref>The Travels of Marco Polo, Book 1, Chapter 32</ref> The Portuguese Jesuit priest Bento de Goes crossed from the Wakhan to China between 1602 and 1606. The area was visited under the watchful eyes of the Russians by Thomas Edward Gordon in 1874,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and in 1891 by Francis Younghusband,<ref>Younghusband, F. (1896, republished 2000) "The Heart of a Continent" Template:ISBN</ref> followed by Lord Curzon in 1894.<ref>"Geographical Journal" (July to September 1896)</ref> While visiting Wakhan in May 1906, Aurel Stein reported that 100 pony loads of goods crossed annually to China.<ref name="Shahrani, M. Nazif 2002 p.37">Shahrani, M. Nazif (1979 and 2002) p.37</ref>

Early travellers used one of three routes:

A northern route led up the valley of the Pamir River to Zorkul Lake, then east through the mountains to the valley of the Bartang River, then across the Sarikol Range to China.
A southern route led up the valley of the Wakhan River to the Wakhjir Pass to China. This pass is closed for at least five months a year and is only open irregularly for the remainder.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A central route branched off the southern route through the Little Pamir to the Murghab River valley.

The corridor is, in part, a political creation from The Great Game between British India and Russian Empire. In the north, an agreement between the empires in 1873 effectively split the historic region of Wakhan by making the Panj and Pamir Rivers the border between Afghanistan and the then-Russian Empire.<ref name="IBS1983"/> In the south, the Durand Line Agreement of 1893 marked the boundary between British India and Afghanistan. This left a narrow strip of land ruled by Afghanistan as a buffer between the two empires, which became known as the Wakhan Corridor in the 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The corridor has been closed to regular traffic for over a century<ref name=reu/> and there is no modern road. There is a rough road from Ishkashim to Sarhad-e Broghil<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> built in the 1960s,<ref name=unep>Template:Cite web</ref> but only rough paths beyond. These paths run some Template:Convert from the road end to the Chinese border at Wakhjir Pass, and further to the far end of the Little Pamir.

Jacob Townsend has speculated on the possibility of drug smuggling from Afghanistan to China via the Wakhan Corridor and Wakhjir Pass, but concluded that due to the difficulties of travel and border crossings, it would be minor compared to that conducted via Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province or through Pakistan, both having much more accessible routes into China.<ref name=townsend>"China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk" (Chapter 4). June 2005</ref>

The remoteness of the region has meant that, despite the long-running wars of Afghanistan since the late 1970s, the region has remained virtually untouched by conflict, and many locals, mostly composed of ethnic Pamir and Kyrgyz, are not aware of the wars in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan asked the People's Republic of China on several occasions to open the border in the Wakhan Corridor for economic reasons or as an alternative supply route for fighting the Taliban insurgency. The Chinese resisted, largely due to unrest in its far western province of Xinjiang, which borders the corridor.<ref>Afghanistan tells China to open Wakhan corridor route. The Hindu. 11 June 2009 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>China mulls Afghan border request Template:Webarchive. BBC News Online. 12 June 2009</ref> Template:As of, it was reported that the United States had asked China to open the corridor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 2021, the area came under the Taliban control for the first time during the group's summer offensive.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was reported that hundreds of ethnic Kyrgyz nomads along with their livestock attempted to flee north into Tajikistan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is patrolled by forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which took over responsibility from the previous NATO-trained Afghan National Security Forces.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As of June 2023, there had been discussions between foreign ministers of China and Afghanistan concerning the opening of the strategically significant corridor to enhance the trade ties between Beijing and Kabul. Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi both met on the sidelines in Tibet during the third Trans-Himalaya Forum for International Cooperation, to discuss the possibilities of improving trade ties.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Though the Taliban government finished a 50-km road through the corridor to reach the Chinese border, Beijing seems disinclined to open the border, due to security concerns.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2024 an independent analysis conducted at the University of Texas at Austin which relied on open source intelligence suggested the corridor consists of, "primarily dirt roads and footpaths that abruptly end before reaching the border."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>