A narrow strip of land hemmed in by some of the world’s highest mountain ranges, the Wakhan Corridor, is a product of the 19th-century ‘Great Game’ between the British Indian Empire and Tsarist Russia.
However, this remote part of Afghanistan, officially controlled by the Taliban, is fast becoming strategically important for China, which is negotiating with Taliban officials to control this sparsely populated, rugged territory.
Just 13 kilometers wide at its narrowest, also called Afghanistan’s ‘chicken neck,’ Wakhan Corridor is one of the most remote areas on earth and connects Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province to China’s Xinjiang region. It also separates Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region to the north from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir’s Gilgit Baltistan region to the south.
The strip is 350 kilometers long and 13 to 65 kilometers wide. Its total area is 10,300 square kilometers, and its population is around 15,000 individuals.
However, despite its seemingly backwater appearance, China is increasingly interested in this narrow strip of land that is on its way to becoming a “corridor of power.”
China’s Interest In Wakhan Corridor
China’s interest in the Wakhan Corridor is not new. In fact, Beijing has been interested in this remote area for over a decade now.
Its significance became clear to Beijing when China first proposed the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC), China’s ambitious US$66 billion road and infrastructure network in Pakistan, part of Beijing’s Belt & Road initiative.
According to reports, Beijing wants to extend CPEC in the Wakhan Corridor to connect it to Central Asia and revive the ancient Silk Road, which connected China with Central and West Asia and then onwards to Europe.
In 2011, Tajikistan ceded 386 square miles (1,000 sq km) of land in the Pamir Mountains, close to the Wakhan Corridor, to China. In 2016, Australia’s Lowly Institute reported that China is maintaining a military presence on the Tajikistan side of the Wakhan Corridor and is also considering establishing a permanent military base in the Wakhan Corridor.
However, the US-supported government in Kabul was an impediment to Beijing’s plans in the area.
China revived its plans after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. In October 2023, the acting Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tibet on the sidelines of the 3rd Trans-Himalaya Forum for International Cooperation and discussed opening the Wakhan Corridor for trade between China and Afghanistan.
Two weeks later, the Taliban officially announced its intention to join China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative through a road connection in the Wakhan Corridor. The Taliban’s decision coincided with the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious global infrastructure and energy initiative, billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road to boost international trade.
In April 2024, the Afghan and Chinese foreign ministries met in Beijing and decided to start road construction work in the Waakhan Corridor.
In August 2024, China’s Ambassador to Kabul, Zhao Xing, and Taliban regime officials visited the Wakhan Corridor and inspected the construction work on Wakhan Road up to the border with China.
On January 14, Afghanistan’s former Vice-President Amrullah Saleh tweeted a news report that said three senior Chinese intelligence officials visited the Wakhan Corridor in the first week of January and told Taliban officials to cease all activity in the area, effectively assuming complete control of the strategic corridor.
China has many interests in the area. Apart from extending CPEC and connecting it to Central Asia, Beijing wants to establish a permanent presence in the area so that it can check the flow of narcotics from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to China and also keep a tab on the flow of Islamist radicals to China’s only Muslim-majority Xinjiang province where Beijing is battling a separatist insurgency since many years.
China is the latest power seeking to control this narrow strip of land. Notwithstanding its remoteness, influential powers have always sought to control this territory.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, imperial Britain and Tsarist Russia jockeyed to control this territory. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Western powers competed over the Wakhan Corridor. Now, with its rising global ambitions, China has plans to control this remote and thinly populated area.
From Ancient Silk Road To 19th Century ‘Great Game’: The Making Of Wakhan Corridor
The Wakkhan corridor has always been a geopolitical anomaly that owed its existence only to the logic of 19th-century imperialism when drawing national boundaries required nothing more than a bunch of high-imperial officers.
During ancient and medieval times, the territory of Wakhan fell on a major trading route between Kabul and Kashgar. It was an important part of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China, South Asia, and Europe.
Alexander the Great of Macedonia traversed this area during his South Asian campaign in the fourth century BCE. It’s the same area from where the celebrated traveler Marco Polo entered China around 1271 CE.
Politically, the Wakhan Corridor was created in the late 19th century as a buffer state to separate the British Indian Empire from Tsarist Russia, which controlled the territory till Tajikistan.
The border between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Tsarist Russia was decided in 1873. The agreement divided the historical Wakhan territory by making the Panj and Pamir Rivers in Wakhan the effective border between Afghanistan and the then-Russian Empire.
In the south, the Durand Line Agreement in 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.
In 1979, during its invasion of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union occupied the Wakhan Corridor. However, its remoteness ensured that the area was relatively calm during three decades of civil war in Afghanistan from 1990 to 2020.
The Taliban has maintained effective control of the area since storming back to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistan Joins The ‘Great Game’ For Wakhan Corridor
Despite its deteriorating economic and security situation, Pakistan has also joined the ‘Great Game’ for the Wakhan Corridor.
On December 30, 2024, Pakistan’s intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Asim Malik’s surprise visit to Tajikistan sparked widespread speculation that Islamabad was gearing up to occupy the Wakhan corridor.
While unconfirmed, the rumors gained traction because the corridor could give Pakistan direct access to Central Asia, bypassing Afghanistan, with whom Islamabad has a troubled relationship.
Writing in the Friday Times, Pakistani journalist Talat Maqbool said: “A major interest for Pakistan in the Wakhan Border lies in its access to Central Asia. Currently, Pakistan’s trade relations with the landlocked countries of Central Asia are limited, largely due to geographic challenges and political barriers. The Wakhan Corridor could serve as an alternative trade route, helping create new economic opportunities for Pakistan.”
However, it’s unlikely that Pakistan would try to annex the Wakhan Corridor without China’s approval, as Beijing has its own interest in the area.
The New ‘Great Game’
Afghanistan, also known as the ‘Heart of Asia,’ is key to achieving trade connectivity between China, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe.
Given its central location in Asia, traversing key trade routes, Afghanistan has always been central to the ‘Great Game.’ Afghanistan was invaded by the British Indian Empire twice in the 19th century.
It was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979. In 2001, Afghanistan was invaded by the US. Pakistan, acting under its ‘strategic depth’ doctrine, has been deeply involved in Afghanistan, at least since the 1970s.
Even today, Afghanistan is the area where the US, Russian, Indian, Pakistani, Turkish, and Chinese interests clash.
Over the centuries, Afghanistan has also proved to be the ‘graveyard of Empires.’ It defeated the British Empire in the 19th century. In 1979, the Afghanistan invasion proved a fatal mistake for the Soviet Union. And, the US could not defeat the Taliban despite its longest war ever from 2001 to 2021.
However, the Wakhan Corridor is Afghanistan’s weakest point. Strategically important but remote and sparsely populated, it will not be easy for Kabul to defend the corridor.
While China has not made any military move yet, the 21st century ‘Great Game’ for the ‘Wakhan Corridor’ has already begun.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from The University of Sheffield, UK. He is interested in studying Geopolitics from a historical perspective.
- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
