THE WAKHAN CORRIDOR: AN UNLIKELY AFGHAN-CHINA LINK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81B00401R000600120001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 18, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 1, 1980
• Content Type: RP

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Foreign
Assessment
Center
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The Wakhan Corridor:
An Unlikely Afghan-China Link
A Research Paper
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GC 80-10038
May 1980
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Foreign
Assessment
Center
The Wakhan Corridor:
An Unlikely Afghan-China Link (u)
A Research Paper
Research for this report was completed
on I April 1980.
The author of this paper is East
Asia Branch, Geography Division, Office of
Geographic and Cartographic Research.
Comments and queries are welcome and may be
directed to Chief, East Asia Branch, GD/OGCR,
The paper was coordinated with the Offices of
Political Analysis and Economic Research and the
National Intelligence Officer for Near East and
South Asia. (u)
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Summary
The Wakhan Corridor:
An Unlikely Afghan-China Link (0
Wakhan, the long and narrow "thumb" of Afghanistan, which extends
eastward between the USSR and Pakistan to China, was created in the 19th
century to separate British and Russian territory. A semiautonomous
district of Badakhshan Province, it is sparsely populated by Tajik and
Kirghiz peoples, who have ethnic ties to groups in the adjacent areas of the
USSR and China.
Because Afghanistan shares a common border with China, it would appear
that the Chinese could freely use Wakhan to support the insurgents in
Afghanistan. Indeed, rumors and speculations persist that the Chinese are
running guns and men through the Wakhan into northern Afghanistan.
Rugged terrain, high altitude, inhospitable climate, and the proximity of
Russian border posts to the settled areas in Wakhan, however, make
undetected use of the single main route through the corridor difficult if not
impossible.
Alternate routes to the main Wakhan route present even greater physical
problems. Only treacherous trails lead from northern Pakistan across the
high passes of the Hindu Kush mountains into Afghanistan. Supplies could
be shipped directly from China into Pakistan over the Karakoram Highway,
but they would then have to be transported into Afghanistan over these
Hindu Kush trails.
The above information is Unclassified.
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Contents
Page
Summary
iii
Background
1
The Major Route
1
Alternate Routes
2
Use of Wakhan by China
2
Appendixes
A. Border Passes 3
B. Population Groups in Wakhan 5
Map
Wakhan Corridor 7
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The Wakhan Corridor:
An Unlikely Afghan-China Link (0
Background
The Wakhan Corridor,' a semiautonomous district of
Badakhshan Province, links Afghanistan with China
and forms a physical and political barrier separating
Soviet Central Asia from South Asia. This mountain-
ous eastern appendage of Afghanistan?more than
260 kilometers long and 12 to 60 km wide?was a late
19th century creation of British-Russian diplomacy,
the purpose of which was to physically separate
Russian territory from tribal areas then within
Britain's sphere of interest. Its delineation was one of
the final acts in the long Anglo-Russian rivalry over
control of what is now Soviet Central Asia.
Few people inhabit Wakhan and settlements and
nomadic encampments are widely scattered. The
scanty population, difficult terrain, and limited access
to the area has fostered administrative autonomy.
Traditionally, the central Afghan Government has had
little influence in the district, and the administration of
the area has been left in the hands of local headmen.
The term "corridor" as applied to this area gives a
misleading impression of easy transit: elevations are
high (3,000 to 6,800 meters), the terrain is formidable,
and the climate severe. High, glacier-scoured valleys?
the pamirs?characterize the eastern half; travel
through them is encumbered by boggy areas, occa-
sional gorges, and glacial boulders. The western half is
a narrow valley with steep slopes, but somewhat lower
elevations. Nonetheless, trails wind through the maze
of mountains and river gorges, and the area historically
has been a route for caravans between the oases of
southern Chinese Turkistan (Xinjiang Province) and
Afghanistan.
Wakhan's curious configuration results from the
piecing together of alignments from four separate
boundary agreements. The northern boundary east-
ward from Eshkashem to the Sari Qul (lake) evolved in
' The spelling of the name for this area approved by the Board on
Geographic Names is Vakhan. Throughout this paper, we have used
the more familiar Wakhan. (u)
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the course of Anglo-Russian diplomacy from 1869 to
1873. The remainder of the northern boundary, from
the lake to the Chinese border, was defined by the
Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission of 1895. The
southern Wakhan boundary is a section of the Durand
Line, which was defined by the Anglo-Afghan agree-
ment of 1893. 25X1
Since the purpose of these boundary settlements was to
ensure that Britain and Russia did not share a common
frontier, there was no sense of urgency on the part of
the European powers?or of China?to complete the
boundary where Afghan and Chinese territory met.
Hence a gap in the border remained that was not
officially resolved until the signing of a Sino-Afghan
boundary agreement in 1963 and the d?rcati9n of
this 80-km boundary the following yearl 25X1
The Major Route
Access to the Wakhan Corridor is restricted by terrain.
Within the corridor, very high mountains to both north
and south channel most travel to a single east-west
route, motorable only in its western section and
confined to the valleys of the Amu Darya headwaters.
The southern boundary in particular is a solid moun-
tain wall?the Hindu Kush?consisting of high peaks,
glaciers, and snowfields; only a few difficult tracks
cross the mountains, providing tenuous seasonal links
between Hunza, Gilgit, and the Chitral District of
Pakistan with Wakhan
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Travel within Wakhan depends on weather conditions.
It is easiest to traverse the area from mid-July through
November. At other times of the year travel is possible
but usually involves considerably greater problems
and, occasionally, risks. Heavy snow is common in the
December-February period, and the valleys often
become clogged with drifts when winds sweep snow
from mountain peaks and ridges. Temperatures lower
than 20?C below zero are an additional hazard to
winter travel. During spring and early summer,
melting snow and ice result in muddy, slippery trails
and swollen streams, which must be crossed and
recrossed on most routes.
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Alternate Routes
Other access to northern Afghanistan from China is
along ancient trade routes that cross northern Pakistan
and enter Wakhan and Badakhshan over high passes
through the Hindu Kush mountains. Most of the
Hindu Kush passes are open only a few months of the
year and only a minimal amount of supplies can be
moved over these mountain routes.'
A larger quantity of supplies could be moved into
Pakistan from China by truck via the Karakoram
Highway, but it is improbable that the road would be
used. Not only would the supplies have to be carried by
trail from the road to the Afghanistan border, but
storage of supplies in northern Pakistan would be a
problem. In addition, the use of the road is subject to
conditions similar to those affecting the trails. The
Karakoram Highway is open for only a few months
from late summer through fall. The opening of the
road to ttaffic depends on how soon the landslides that
regularly follow spring and summer thaws are cleared.
Snow and ice block the road during the remainder of
the year.
Use of Wakhan by China
Rumors and speculations continue, particularly in the
press, that China is supplying the Afghan insurgents
with guns and "advisers" directly through the Wakhan
"connection" or indirectly via the Karakoram High-
way. There is no hard evidence, however, to support
any kind of direct Chinese assistance to the Afghan
rebel forces. "Chinese guns" reported captured by
Soviet and Afghan forces in Badakhshan probably are
Soviet automatic rifles or possibly copies of the
weapons made by tribal gunsmiths in Pakistan. Re-
ports of the presence of Chinese also cannot be
confirmed. Individuals that appear to be Chinese may
be Wakhan Kirghiz who have joined the rebel forces
in Badakhshan.
'See appendix A for a list of the passes. (u)
' For example, to move one metric ton requires seven camels, or 10
yaks, or 15 or more ponies. One ton would equate to fewer than 150
rifles without ammunition. (u)
? See appendix B for a description of these people. (u)
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The Tajiks
Appendix B
Population Groups in Wakhan
Wakhan is sparsely populated and some areas?principally the high valleys,
or pamirs?are only seasonally occupied. Tajiks are the most numerous
ethnic group, inhabiting the western half of Wakhan. The eastern and
higher portion of the Wakhan Corridor traditionally was the home of
nomadic Kirghiz, most of whom have fled during the past two years to
Pakistan.
An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Tajiks live in the western part of the Wakhan
Corridor. They belong to a subgroup known as mountain or hill Tajiks, who
are adherents of the Ismailiya Shia sect of Islam and whose spiritual leader
is the Aga Khan. They are of medium height and generally have brown hair
and eyes and a generous amount of Mongoloid admixture. It is not unusual,
however, for Wakhan Tajiks to have yellow or red hair, or blue eyes, in
combination with high cheekbones and the epicanthic eyefold. The Tajiks
speak Wakhi (Vakhi), a dialect of the Pamiri family of the East Iranian
languages; many of them also speak Dari, the Afghan form of Persian.
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The Tajiks are a hardy, self-reliant, and usually peaceful group of mountain
farmers and herders. Their principal crops are peas, beans, millet, and
highland wheat and barley. The irrigated fields are terraced and require
large quantities of manure to get even a moderate yield. Animals?yaks,
cattle, goats, sheep, and ponies?are shifted seasonally to rich upland
pastures. Settlements in Wakhan are hamlets composed of one or more
extended families, each of which can have a dozen to as many as 50
members.
Tajik society is nontribal, but kinship structure dominates the political
process. The heads of traditionally important families form a council, and
the headman (malik) is selected from among its members. The office is not
hereditary: a malik's power and tenure depend on his personality and the
amount of influence and support he can maintain.
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The Kirghiz
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The Kirghiz, who have inhabited the pamir area in the eastern end of the
Wakhan Corridor, are a pastoral people. They are shorter than average in
height, and have coarse black hair, dark brown eyes, broad faces, and
epicanthic eyefold. They speak a Turkic dialect of the Altaic family of
languages and are members of the Sunni sect of Islam. Their society is tribal
in organization and they have little in common, except as followers of Islam,
with their Tajik neighbors.
The Wakhan Kirghiz numbered fewer than 3,000 in the early 1970s; after
their access to China was cut off they suffered untold hardships from year-
round isolation in the bitter cold of the high parnir valleys. Probably few, if
any, Kirghiz now remain in Wakhan.
This branch of the Kirghiz had customarily moved their animals (yaks,
ponies, sheep, and some Bactrian camels) each fall into the lower valleys
around Kashgar in Chinese Turkistan. During the winter, they received
religious instruction, some medical treatment, and a selected few of their
members raised grain for the entire clan or tribe. Following the Russian
Revolution (1917) and the Chinese Civil War (1949), their traditional
migration routes through Russian and Chinese territory were gradually
closed. The Afghan Government offered them land in the main part of
Badakhshan, but they refused to become "lowlanders," partly because they
could not tolerate the heat of the lower valleys and partly because their
headman's (khan's) position depended on keeping them together as a viable
political and ethnic unit.
Under the strong leadership of Khan Rahman Quol (Rahman Gul), the
Wakhan Kirghiz managed to survive economically through the annual sale
of their animals and animal products in Kabul. What the Wakhan Kirghiz
could not combat, however, was an infant mortality rate of nearly 50 percent
and the death of nearly one-third of their women in childbirth. In addition,
denial of access to their mullahs in China placed the burden of religious
instruction and education on the shoulders of the khan. Illiteracy increased,
since one individual could not reach more than a few people.
In October 1978 several hundred families of the Wakhan Kirghiz reportedly
migrated into the Hunza Valley of Pakistan, both to survive as a people and
to evade interference from the pro-Communist regime in Kabul. Many of
those who reached the Hunza Valley?including their animals?reportedly
have died, however, primarily from the effects of altitudinal and other
environmental change.
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